BITHUMB Stops Creation Of New Virtual Accounts

One of the South Korean exchanges of digital assets, the BITHUMB crypto exchange will no longer allow the creation of new virtual accounts due to the inability to sign an agreement with a partner bank.

According to BusinessKorea, Bithumb will temporarily stop creating new accounts on its stock exchange.

In January, the Korean government made new regulations that require that the crypto-exchanges must partner with  banks to present the now obligatory “real name system” when opening new records as an endeavor to counteract tax evasion. The mentioned partnership requires updates at regular intervals (every six months). Three other large crypto trading exchanges – Coinone, UPbit, and Korbit – all effectively expanded contracts with their banks.

Bithumb worked with Shinhan Bank. When this contract ended, Bithumb applied to NH Nonghyup Bank, which refused to renew its partnership. A spokesman for Nonghyup reportedly mentioned that they have decided not to renew the contract, because Bithumb had problems in protecting consumers and information and preventing money laundering.

In December last year, the trading platform was fined 60 million won for insufficient protection of user data.

Regardless of Nonghyup’s claim, Bithumb argues that the freeze in creating an account is temporary.