South Korean crypto exchanges warned over treatment of customers

The Korea Fair Trade Commission has advised eight cryptocurrency exchanges to changes terms and conditions in their user agreements that it deems unfair to customers.

Fast facts

• The commission discovered 15 types of terms and conditions that it said were unfavorable to customers. One condition stipulated that balances of less than a minimum withdrawal amount would not be returned to users. Another said the exchange could restrict users who engage in an “excessive” number of monthly transactions, without defining “excessive.”  

• The KFTC targeted 16 exchanges. Eight — Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, CoinOne, Streami, Probit, Huobi Korea and Hanbitco — have been advised to make corrections, while the remaining eight are still being examined.

• If they do not follow the recommendations, the KFTC may issue a mandatory correction order. If a correction order is not followed, the KFTC may report the business to prosecutors.