Apple blocks KuCoin, MEXC, and 14 other crypto exchanges in South Korea

Kucoin, as well as Mexc and 12 other Crypto exchanges, were deleted from the Apple App Store in South Korea to operate without recording.

According to an April 14 report From the South Korea Financial Services Commission, Apple began to block access to applications on April 11 following a request from the country’s financial intelligence unit.

Due to the restrictions, new users will no longer be able to download applications, while existing users will not receive future updates. Blocked exchanges would not have succeeded in registering with local authorities but still offered services to Korean user.

According to the Financial Intelligence Unit, these platforms actually put activities in South Korea by offering Korean language websites, by carrying out local marketing campaigns and allowing transactions in the activities of Korean Won which relate to national operational criteria.

Under South Korea Anti-flowage regulationsAny foreign crypto operator engaging such practices is necessary to register with the CRF. Not doing it is considered a criminal offense, liable to a sentence of up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won (about $ 35,200).

Last month, FIU declared He actively worked to block unregistered virtual asset service providers and restrict their access to Korean users. This includes targeting not only mobile applications, but also related websites.

The authorities claim that these restrictions aim to protect users and reduce exposure to threats such as hacking, data violations and the potential abusive use of assets. Without regulatory monitoring, unregistered exchanges have serious risks, in particular in terms of consumer protection and financial security.

The CRF has also stressed that these platforms generally do not adhere to user protection measures, such as the separation of customer accounts from operational accounts, leaving users more exposed to losses in the event of fraud, insolvency or disruption of the service. In such cases, recovery options can be extremely limited.

“Users are requested to check whether the commercial operator of the virtual assets with whom they translate is a company operator reported via the above website, and if it is an undeclared company operator, takes measures such as the withdrawal of their own virtual assets,” said an extract from the report.

Apple’s move follows a Similar action by GoogleWho started blocking access to 17 crypto exchange applications not recorded on the Play Store from March 25.

In this context, the adoption of crypto in South Korea continued to increase. At the end of March, the number of local trade users had has exceeded 16 millionrepresenting almost 32% of the national population.

In the meantime, a report suggested that more than one in five southern officials would have held digital assets on March 27.