South Korea flags record surge in Crypto money laundering
TL;DR Breakdown
- South Korean exchanges filed a record 36,684 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) in Jan–Aug 2025.
- Most cases involve currency exchange schemes, routing illicit funds abroad via crypto before cashing out domestically.
- From 2021–2025, Korea Customs flagged ₩9.56T ($6.8B) in crypto crimes, 90% tied to money laundering.
South Korean crypto platforms are turning out to be a hub of crypto money laundering, reveals a report. Operators filed a record 36,684 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) between January and August 2025. This surpasses the combined total of the previous two years, shown by data from the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The surge in such illicit activities depicts mounting concerns over money laundering and underground remittances tied to digital assets. It added that the country’s crypto investor base has swelled past 10 million.
South Korea Crypto STRs Hit 37K
According to the report, STR filings by virtual asset operators jumped sharply from just 199 in 2021 to nearly 37,000 this year. These fillings are required under the Specific Financial Information Act. Many of the flagged cases involve so-called “currency exchange” schemes. In these cases, criminal funds are converted into crypto overseas and then routed back into domestic exchanges for cash withdrawals.
This comes in when the global crypto industry is dealing with high selling pressure as traders are looking to bag heavy gains. The total crypto market cap dropped below the $4 trillion mark on Early Monday. Bitcoin, which went on to hit all time high (ATH) of above $124k on August 14, is trading down by 2% over the last 30 days. BTC is now hovering around $115K.
Ethereum managed to outperform Bitcoin over the last three months. However, the recent uncertainties has dragged it down too. ETH price dipped by almost 9% in the past 30 days. Ethereum is trading at an average price of $4,322 at the press time.
90% of Crypto Cases Linked to Money Laundering
Parallel figures from the Korea Customs Service show that from 2021 through August 2025, prosecutors were referred ₩9.56 trillion ($6.8 billion) worth of crypto-related crimes, of which 90% were linked to money laundering. Authorities have also begun to see stablecoins feature prominently in illegal transfers. In May, customs officials uncovered a case in which a money changer funneled ₩57.1 billion received from a Russian importer into Tether’s USDT stablecoin.
Rep. Jin Seong-jun of the Democratic Party, who released the FIU data, warned that stablecoins’ growing use in real-world payments is amplifying the risk of foreign exchange violations. “Related agencies such as the FIU and Korea Customs Service must develop systematic measures against new forms of financial crime, including tracking illicit funds and blocking disguised remittances,” he said.
