South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb will no longer accept wallet addresses that haven’t been properly registered with the exchange as part of its enforcement of the so-called “travel rule,” according to an official blog post on Monday (Jan. 24) cited in a CoinDesk report Tuesday (Jan. 25).
The travel rule, which was recommended by the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF), requires all cryptocurrency exchanges to collect data about transactions and share them with authorities when they exceed a certain threshold.
Bithumb users won’t be able to withdraw or pre-register using cryptocurrency wallets such as MetaMask that are not tied to a name, mobile phone number or email address starting Thursday (Jan. 27), CoinDesk Korea reported.
Bithumb said last week that users would have to go through face-to-face interviews to sign up on the exchange using untethered wallets, but reversed course after pressure from local bank NH Nonghyup. Crypto exchange Coinone, which works with NH Nonghyup, debuted a similar measure Monday.
Seoul requires all cryptocurrency exchanges to partner with banks for real-name bank accounts to operate in the country. Per the report, the two exchanges are putting together a list of users who have registered their data.
In March, Bithumb banned users from 21 countries without proper anti-money laundering (AML) rules, all of which are on the FATF’s watchlist for not having AML rules in place.
Iran and North Korea have been blacklisted by the FATF, meaning they are known to be actively supporting money laundering and terror funding, while the 19 others, including Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Botswana, are on the gray list.
The gray list consists of countries that are thought to be “safe havens” for those activities.
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