Korea’s four major cryptocurrency exchanges - Bithumb, Upbit, Korbit and Coinone - join forces to strengthen their anti-money laundering (AML) activities to create a sound crypto trading environment.

The four exchanges said Monday that they had set up a hot line connecting persons of each exchange in charge of protecting users and monitoring unusual transactions in their joint AML efforts. They will share wallet addresses suspected or confirmed to have been used for such crimes as voice phishing, loan fraud and Ponzi scheme in real time. Imagine, for instance, that offenders try to withdraw money via the same wallet in several exchanges to exploit cryptocurrencies for crime. If an exchange from which suspected withdrawals are reported shares the targeted wallet address at once, users’ property can be protected as other exchanges can act immediately to block withdrawals.

“This cooperation will contribute a great deal to enhancing our crypto AML efficiency,” said the four exchanges in a statement. “We have organized systems for monitoring unusual transactions and protecting users. If we gather together experiences accumulated while operating real-name virtual accounts with banks, it will greatly help prevent crimes and create a milieu for sound trading.”

Having already passed Korea Blockchain Association’s self-regulatory screening, the four exchanges expected their AML cooperation through the installation of a hot line to raise the integrity of the crytocurrency industry along with their winning of the information security management system (ISMS) certificate. They plan to encourage other exchanges to take part in the AML efforts to enhance the efficiency. /minsy@decenter.kr

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