South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has banned its digital asset trading in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran and North Korea and seven other countries which possesses higher risks of jurisdictions by the Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) Initiative.

Starting May 28, South Korea’s biggest exchange stated to start to prevent its infrastructure and platform from the usage to finance criminal activities and launder money. The company has decided to outright its ban in all the 11 countries monitored by the NCCT Initiative.

Bithumb, the major South Korean exchange will no longer accept new users from the said 11 countries listed on NCCT. It is also expected that the company will disable the accounts of users from the 11 countries starting on June 21.

The action taken by the South Korean exchange is due to the countries insufficient regulations and policies to restrict money laundering and the utilization of different forms of money to finance illegal operations. By banning all the users from the 11 countries, Bithumb can eliminate all the potential conflict and other international regulations with regards to the usability of the cryptocurrency in money laundering.

Aside from banning, the team also plans to request foreign users to endure a mobile verification process to ensures that no one can deceive the platform by faking residential address and personal information. Bithumb will also impose strict policies and closely cooperate with the financial authorities to increase the transparency to protect all the investors better. The team also aims to improve its global standard when it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges.

The action done by the Bithumb was influenced by the Japanese Government. Earlier this month, Mainichi, Japan’s most influential and oldest newspaper reported that millions of dollars had been laundered through the three cryptocurrencies Monero, Dash, and Zcash by the Yakuza.

In Japan, Yakuza is the most powerful crime syndicates with hundred thousands of members. The report taken by the Mainichi trigged the government to restrict the usage of cryptocurrencies like Zcash, Dash, and Monero by requesting local cryptocurrency exchanges to de-list all the digital assets.

The banning of crypto trading in NCCT regions like Iraq and Iran demonstrated the intention and the vision of Bithumb to bring transparency and to remain compliant with the cryptocurrency market. With the decisions done by the Bithumb, it is possible that local exchanges will soon to consider the feasibility of listing anonymous cryptos in the public market.