Kucin, together with Mexc and 12 other crypto fairs, have been removed from Apple’s App Store in South Korea for operating without registration.
According to a April 14 report On 11 April of the South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, Apple started accessing the apps after a request from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the country.
Due to the limitations, new users can no longer download the apps, while existing users do not receive future updates. The blocked scholarships would not have registered with the local authorities, but still offered services to Korean users.
According to the Financial Intelligence Unit, these platforms effectively did business in South Korea by offering websites of Korean language, carrying out local marketing campaigns and making transactions in Korean won, activities that fall under domestic operational criteria.
According to the anti-money laundering practices of South Korea, every foreign crypto operator who deals with such practices is required to register with the FIU. Not doing this is considered a criminal offense, punished by a maximum of five years in prison or a fine of a maximum of 50 million (around $ 35,200).
Last month, the FIU stated It worked actively to block non -registered virtual asseti boviders and to limit their access to Korean users. This includes the targeting of not only mobile apps, but also related websites.
Authorities say that these limitations are aimed at protecting users and reducing exposure to threats such as hacking, data breaches and the potential abuse of assets. Without supervision of legal, non -registered exchanges form serious risks, in particular in terms of protection of consumers and financial security.
The FIU has also pointed out that these platforms usually do not adhere to the measures of user protection, such as the separation of customer funds from operational accounts, so that users are more exposed to losses in the case of fraud, insolvency or service defore. In such cases, options for recovery may be extremely limited.
“Users are asked to check whether the virtual activist company operator with whom they transact is a reported business operator via the above website, and if it is a non -reported business operator, take measures such as recording their own virtual assets,” reads a translated fragment from the report.
Apple’s movement follows a similar action by Google, which started with blocking access to 17 non -registered crypto -exchange apps in the Play Store from 25 March.
In the midst of this background, the adoption of crypto in South Korea continued to rise. By the end of March, the number of local exchange users had exceeded 16 million, accounting for almost 32% of the national population.
In the meantime, one report suggested that more than one in five South Korean officials held digital assets from 27 March.
