Hwanchigi remittances stay the biggest driver of suspicious circumstances.
Stablecoins, particularly Tether, are utilized in cross-border laundering schemes.
Lawmakers push for tighter monitoring and international cooperation.
South Korea has reported a dramatic rise in suspicious cryptocurrency transactions in 2025, signalling deepening issues over cash laundering and cross-border crime.
Based on information from the Monetary Intelligence Unit (FIU), home exchanges filed 36,684 suspicious transaction stories (STRs) between January and August. This already surpasses the mixed totals of the earlier two years.
Authorities say a lot of the rise stems from unlawful international remittance actions, identified regionally as “hwanchigi”, the place digital property are used to bypass capital controls and funnel cash overseas.
The surge highlights how crypto crime has quickly advanced right into a systemic challenge for regulators.
Suspicious transactions hit historic highs
The expansion in flagged transactions has accelerated in recent times. In 2021, solely 199 circumstances have been reported. By 2022, this surged to just about 18,000, adopted by 16,076 in 2023.
The 2024 complete doubled that determine, however the 2025 information for August has already set a brand new report.
The Korea Customs Service (KCS) referred ₩9.56 trillion ($7.1 billion) in crypto-linked crimes to prosecutors between 2021 and August 2025.
Greater than 90% of those circumstances have been tied to hwanchigi-related laundering actions, the place crypto is used as an middleman to disguise and reroute funds.
Officers observe that exchanges are submitting STRs at unprecedented ranges, exhibiting each elevated surveillance and better ranges of suspicious exercise.
Stablecoins linked to international transfers
Regulators have more and more flagged stablecoins as a key device in illicit cross-border transactions. Stablecoins are designed to reflect fiat currencies and are sometimes used for sooner settlement. Nonetheless, their function in international change crimes has turn into extra seen.
In Might 2025, customs officers uncovered a case involving ₩57.1 billion ($42 million) moved between South Korea and Russia utilizing Tether (USDT).
The investigation discovered two Russian nationals had accomplished greater than 6,000 unlawful transfers between 2023 and 2024. Such circumstances present how stablecoins might be exploited to sidestep monetary restrictions, together with sanctions and capital controls.
Consultants highlighted this danger, pointing to the rising use of stablecoins in the actual economic system and their vulnerability to felony misuse.
The South Korean parliament has urged companies to scale up monitoring to forestall disguised remittances and to hint felony funds extra successfully.
Lawmakers demand stronger measures
South Korean lawmakers have pressed for harder enforcement mechanisms, notably in opposition to new forms of international change crimes linked to crypto.
Calls have been made for the FIU and KCS to increase coordination, improve transaction monitoring, and tighten compliance necessities for exchanges.
Authorities are additionally exploring methods to strengthen cooperation with worldwide regulators. With hwanchigi circumstances usually involving international intermediaries and platforms, officers stress the necessity for international partnerships to restrict cross-border laundering.
Discussions give attention to enhancing info sharing and creating stricter frameworks for reporting suspicious stablecoin transactions.
A worldwide regulatory problem
The size of South Korea’s STR filings mirrors comparable issues elsewhere. The European Union has launched its Markets in Crypto-Property (MiCA) framework, which units limits on stablecoin transaction volumes and mandates compliance checks to forestall monetary crime.
In the meantime, central banks within the UK and Europe have thought-about introducing transaction caps on digital currencies to cut back illicit flows.
South Korea’s information underscores how regulators worldwide are grappling with the identical challenge: learn how to stability innovation in digital funds with monetary integrity.
With crypto adoption rising, the problem for policymakers stays stopping misuse with out stifling legit use of the expertise.
