South Korea says unreported virtual asset operators face up to five years in prison

South Korea’s current law allows penalties of up to five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won for operators that run virtual asset businesses without filing the required report, according to ChainCatcher. The rule also applies to overseas operators that provide services to South Korean residents, extending the reach of the country’s compliance framework beyond domestic firms. The Financial Intelligence Unit, or FIU, said unreported operators sit outside the regulatory perimeter and may be used for money laundering. In a separate enforcement-related finding, a joint investigation conducted in June by DAXA and compliant operators found that the average trading fees charged by the operators caught in the probe ranged from 1.5% to 10%. At the high end, that was about 62 times the average 0.16% fee charged by South Korea’s five major won-based exchanges. The figures highlight the gap between regulated venues and operators found outside the reporting regime, with authorities pointing to both compliance and user-cost concerns.