Lawmakers Seek to Give South Korea’s FIU Direct Power to Probe Unregistered Crypto Firms

Overview

• Lawmakers led by People Power Party MP Eom Tae‑young introduced the bill on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, to amend the Specific Financial Information Act and expand FIU authority.
• Under the proposal the FIU could receive reports directly, investigate and analyze suspected violations, file complaints, request criminal probes, and hand evidence to investigators.
• The push follows documented enforcement gaps that police say left 23 of 25 FIU referrals into suspected unregistered providers suspended between August 2022 and August 2025 because many operators were based overseas.
• The measure sits alongside a separate change to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act that will require firms handling cross‑border crypto transfers to register with the finance ministry when that framework takes effect in December.
• Domestic exchanges and the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance warn the larger powers and proposed rules—such as a 10 million‑won suspicious‑reporting threshold—could sharply raise compliance costs and reporting volumes and have already led some firms to seek court relief.