thecoinrise.com
The Financial Service Commission (FSC), South Korea’s major financial watchdog, believes that stablecoins and cryptocurrencies are an easy choice for people that launder money. As a result, it will reportedly closely watch what the largest crypto investors in the nation—those with holdings worth more than $70,000—do.
The Financial Intelligence Unit, a component of the FSC, will monitor the transactions of South Korea’s crypto whales, according to a local report.
The regulator targeted those who owned more than 100 million won (about $70,000) in cryptocurrency, claiming that digital currencies are highly susceptible to money-laundering methods.
“The greater the proportion of single-listed virtual assets and stablecoins in virtual asset operators, the higher the risk of money laundering,” the FSC continued.
Stablecoins will be the major subject of monitoring. According to the agency, such assets are becoming more and more common in general society and “are more likely to be used as a means of crime.”
The FIU will also monitor users depositing sizeable amounts of digital assets, raising the risk that some of such transactions may breach anti-money laundering regulations:
“Based on the sum of virtual assets owned by each customer multiplied by the closing price of the virtual asset at the end of the previous quarter, it is necessary to monitor the size and fluctuations of assets.”
Probe on crypto investors evading taxes
Law enforcement officials in South Korea also targeted tax evaders nearly a month ago. They seized almost $180 million in crypto from local individuals and companies that had evaded taxes.
Do Kwon, a notorious Terra Co-Founder, also had to deal with similar issues. Earlier this summer, prosecutors charged that he was transferring business profits to other nations in order to evade paying taxes in his native country.
The authorities also accused him of giving assets to family members as a way to evade taxes; they allegedly used the money to buy properties.