South Korea pushes broader crypto Travel Rule for small transfers

South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has urged the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to widen the “Travel Rule” to include smaller cryptocurrency transactions. The current rule applies only to transfers above 1 million won (about $650); the FIU wants the threshold lowered so that lower‑value transfers also trigger mandatory exchange of sender and recipient information. It also recommends that both the originating and receiving crypto‑asset service providers (CASPs) be required to share this data, aiming to close cross‑border compliance gaps and reduce regulatory arbitrage. In addition, the FIU called for stricter enforcement against offshore and unregistered crypto platforms that are used for illicit finance. The proposal was presented at a FATF plenary session in Paris, where the FATF also approved a new report on the risks posed by decentralized finance (DeFi).