Crypto exchange Bithumb will have to pay a fine of 36.8 billion won, about $24.5 million, after it was found to be in violation of South Korea’s Anti-Money Laundering rules.

According to a local media report, South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit under the Financial Services Commission identified about 6.65 million violations during an AML inspection where the exchange failed to properly carry out customer identity verification, transaction monitoring, and record-keeping requirements. 

Bithumb facilitated 45,772 crypto transfers involving 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers in violation of the country’s AML framework.

Regulators decided on the penalties following a sanctions deliberation committee meeting that reviewed the exchange’s compliance with the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information.

Bithumb has also been banned from processing external crypto transfers for new customers for six months, from March 27 to Sep. 26.

Existing customers, however, will be able to continue trading and using external transfers, while new customers can still buy or sell crypto and deposit or withdraw Korean won through the platform.

The penalties follow repeated warnings from the Financial Intelligence Unit, which had been urging the exchange to suspend all activity involving unregistered overseas crypto firms. Bithumb reportedly failed to implement the necessary blocking measures despite those instructions.

The latest penalty marks the largest fine ever imposed on a South Korean crypto exchange among several platforms that regulators have sanctioned for AML violations.

Last year, Upbit, one of South Korea’s largest crypto exchanges, received a three-month restriction on crypto deposits and withdrawals for new users over dealings with unregistered VASPs, alongside a 35.2 billion won penalty.

Bithumb is also navigating another probe by the Financial Supervisory Service over its operational mistake in which it accidentally credited users with an enormous amount of Bitcoin.

On Feb. 6, the exchange inadvertently distributed 620,000 Bitcoin worth roughly $40 billion to $44 billion at the time after an employee mistakenly entered payout amounts in BTC instead of Korean won during a promotional event.

FSS Governor Lee Chan Jin said regulators would look into how an exchange with far fewer actual reserves was able to record and distribute such large phantom Bitcoin balances within minutes, raising questions about internal controls and electronic ledger systems at the platform.

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2140.46, up 5.1% (+104.17) since 4 p.m. ET on Friday.

All 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: ETH (+8.8%) and DOT (+8.5%).

Laggards: UNI (+0.9%) and BCH (+2.5%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Ether (ETH) bulls are eyeing a move back toward $2,800 in March, with at least three indicators showing ETH price potential to rise higher.

Key takeaways:

• Ether’s price jumped by over 9% toward $2,280 on Monday.

• Multiple indicators, including a symmetrical triangle, hint at an extended price rally toward $2,800.

Ether invalidates a bearish chart pattern

On Sunday, Ether’s price action invalidated what initially appeared to be a bear pennant on the daily chart.

Related: Ethereum Foundation sells $10.2M worth of ETH to BitMine in OTC deal

The ETH/USD pair pierced through the pennant’s upper trend line at $2,100, jumping 9.8% to a six-week high of $2,287 on Monday. Its breakout came alongside a rise in trading volume, implying stronger conviction behind the rally.

The price also reclaimed two key support lines in the name of the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA, red line) and the 50-day EMA (yellow line) at $2,072 and $2,210, respectively.

That simultaneously increased the odds of a symmetrical-triangle bullish reversal.

A symmetrical triangle forms when price makes lower highs and higher lows, compressing into a tightening range. It resolves when the price breaks either of the trendlines and moves by as much as the pattern’s maximum height.

In Ether’s case, the measured move above the upper trend line points to about $2,850, 26% above the current price. The level aligns with the 200-day EMA (the purple line), as shown in the chart above.

Ether’s next hurdle is the 100-day EMA (blue) near $2,500. 

As Cointelegraph reported, a rejection there would weaken the breakout and raise the odds of a pullback.

Onchain data caps Ether’s upside at $2,800

ETH has been oscillating within a wide range defined by the realized price at $2,350 on the upside and on the downside at the lowest MVRV band of $1,650.

The chart below shows that the recent rebound off the lowest MVRV band mirrors the market structure observed in Q2 2022, where the price rallied past the realized price before being rejected by the first MVRV band just above. 

This similarity reinforces the outlook that the current recovery attempt could be stopped around $2,650, where the first MVRV band sits above the realized price.

Glassnode’s Entity-Adjusted UTXO Realized Price Distribution (URPD), showing at which prices the current set of ETH UTXOs were created, also revealed a dense supply zone at $2,770-$2,880 that has been gradually maturing into the long-term holder cohort. This is where investors acquired more than 7.9 million ETH.

This unresolved supply overhang remains a persistent source of sell pressure, likely to cap attempts around the $2,800 level. 

Meanwhile, ETH’s cost-basis distribution heatmap shows a heavy accumulation near $2,800, where more than 3 million ETH were previously purchased, suggesting a potential pathway toward this level in the short term.

Polymarket’s odds of $2,800 ETH price in March rise

Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market where users trade contracts on real-world outcomes, is showing a clear bullish shift for Ether in March.

Traders now assign 13% odds that ETH reaches $2,800 in March, a 10% increase over the last 24 hours. The $2,600 and $2,400 targets carry even stronger convictions at 32% and 69%, respectively.

At the same time, the odds of the ETH price reaching $1,800 and $1,600 in March are priced lower than before, suggesting the crowd is trimming downside expectations.