Uppsala Security, a provider of tools for Crypto AML, Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, and Cybersecurity, has revealed they’ve entered into a contract to create a ‘Virtual Asset AML’ solution for the Coin&Coin exchange that “complies with the amendment of the Special Money Act in South Korea.”
As mentioned in an update, Coin & Coin is a digital asset exchange that’s based in South Korea. The trading platform has launched several different security services including KT FSCD (Financial Security Data Center) and BITGO Multisig Wallet and is “the 13th exchange to receive official ISMS (Information Security Management System) approval before the amendment of the Special Money Act in South Korea.”
The announcement further noted:
“Uppsala Security cited ISMS certification, KYC, existing financial sector (legal currency) AML and virtual asset AML as essential conditions to comply with the amendment of the Special Money Act. However, they stressed that the most important issue in complying with the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) recommendations and that the domestic Special Money Act is designated to establish a ‘Virtual Asset AML’ system in accordance with the RBA (Risk Based Approach).”
Existing financial AML refers to a set of procedures to identify users of different services via customer identity verification (KYC), extensively analyze whether they’ve carried out any suspicious or fraudulent activities, like Money Laundering or Terrorist Financing, and report them to the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit).
As explained in the update, since this is limited to reports of suspected transactions in legal currency (cash), it “means that VASPs (virtual asset companies) need to have a separate ‘Virtual Asset AML’ system in order to comply with the revision bill of the Special Money Act.” The update also pointed out that real-time monitoring of blacklisted wallet addresses “involved in phishing, fraud, hacking, etc. must be continued through the virtual asset AML solution, and a virtual asset STR (suspicious transaction report) must be prepared and submitted to KoFIU (Korea Financial Intelligence Unit) within 3 business days in South Korea.”
An official of Uppsala Security stated:
“From a security perspective, AML-related systems such as virtual asset threat blacklist and database reported to KoFIU should be separated from the external network (Internet) and secured in the company’s internal network. In that sense, Coin&Coin exchange will be able to identify risk wallet addresses and track suspicious transactions by building its own virtual currency threat database (TRDB) in its internal network and maintaining a blacklist database of virtual asset wallet addresses.”
Ku Min-Woo, Korea Country Manager at Uppsala Security remarked:
“Even if the KYC (Know Your Customer) – the AML of legal currency, is performed, the report submitted to KoFIU would still be a half-finished STR unless the virtual asset AML is established separately. The Coin&Coin exchange has already been ISMS certified and introduced the existing AML with KYC through Octa Solution. In addition, through this contract, we can confirm that they meet all the conditions specified in the Special Money Act amendment by implementing our new internal construction virtual asset AML solution, the Threat Reputation Database On-premise Management System (TOMS).”
Jeon Hyeonpung, CEO of the Coin&Coin Exchange, noted:
”We have focused all our capabilities on protecting the assets of our customers and always maintained this as our top priority. Through this AML contract with Uppsala Security, we hope to fulfill all the requirements necessary to comply with the Special Money Act obligations as a VASP (virtual asset service provider) and by doing so, to deliver even more trust to our users.”
As confirmed in the announcement, Uppsala Security offers 57 million crowdsourced Threat Intelligence Indicators in its Threat Reputation Database (TRDB). In September of last year, it was chosen by the Ministry of Science and ICT as “a demand company for the AI Data Processing Voucher Project.”
As previously reported, Uppsala Security developed the very first crowdsourced Threat Intelligence Platform known as the Sentinel Protocol, “powered by blockchain technologies and A.I.” Supporting the framework is “a team of experienced security analysts and researchers committed to helping organizations realize safely interconnected experiences by deploying a suite of advanced Risk Management Solutions satisfying the crypto security needs of organizations and industry compliance standards.”
Uppsala Security maintains head offices in Singapore and has other offices in Seoul, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan. As covered recently, Uppsala Security revealed that it received a Financial Sector Development Grant from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).