South Korea to strengthen monitoring of cross-border crypto trading

   ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – The South Korean government plans to intensify monitoring of cross-border virtual asset trading, including cryptocurrency transactions, through a revised Foreign Exchange Transactions Act set to take effect in the latter half of 2025. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok announced the plan at a press briefing in Washington, held alongside the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting yesterday. The updated regulations will target illicit transactions linked to tax evasion and money laundering, which have grown alongside a surge in cross-border virtual asset trading. According to the Korea Customs Service, foreign exchange-related crimes amounted to KRW11 trillion (USD8 billion) from 2020 to July of this year, with virtual assets accounting for KRW9 trillion, or approximately 80 per cent of the total. Currently, the National Tax Service and the Korea Customs Service can only investigate virtual asset transactions on a case-by-case basis or by obtaining a warrant. The lack of a comprehensive monitoring system for virtual assets has limited their capacity to address these issues effectively, the ministry said. The government aims to close these gaps through the upcoming legislation, which will involve consultations with relevant agencies to establish a stronger, centralised monitoring framework. Under the new regulations, virtual asset service providers, including crypto exchanges, will be required to register with authorities beforehand to conduct cross-border trading of virtual assets, the ministry said. They will also be mandated to report their transactions to the Bank of Korea on a monthly basis. The central bank, along with the Finance Ministry, is in charge of overseeing foreign exchange transactions. The date, amount, type and information on the sender and receiver of a transaction are likely to be included in the report. The transaction records are to be provided to related authorities for the monitoring of illegal transactions, as well as for statistics and analysis.