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If your exchange accepts Korean users and runs a referral or affiliate program, the people promoting you in Korea now face a clearer path to criminal liability — and, by extension, so do you. On 24 June 2026, Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) issued a public advisory on unregistered virtual asset operators. Within it sits a subtle but important shift in how the regulator frames crypto referral marketing in Korea: a promoter of an unregistered exchange is now described not as an operator in their own right, but as someone aiding an illegal business. That reframing rests on firmer legal ground than the position it replaces.
What the June 2026 FIU advisory actually says
The advisory’s main thrust is a restatement of existing policy. Only the 28 VASPs registered with the FIU under the Act on Reporting and Use of Specified Financial Transaction Information (특정금융정보법, the “Reporting Act”) may lawfully serve Korean residents, and foreign operators that target Korean users are equally subject to that registration requirement. It lists the familiar markers of “doing business with Koreans”: a Korean-language website, KRW settlement, and Korea-directed marketing or sign-up events.
On referral specifically, the advisory says that promoting an unregistered operator through referral or affiliate links is not treated as mere advertising. It may instead be assessed as conduct that assists an unregistered business, exposing the promoter to criminal liability. (Separately, the advisory also reports the first joint DAXA investigation, which referred 12 operators — including four overseas exchanges — to the police.)
The earlier theory: was the referrer itself a VASP?
Until recently, the regulator approached this differently. In a 2025 authoritative interpretation, the Financial Services Commission indicated that a person who, as a business, introduces a foreign exchange to the public could themselves qualify as a VASP. Korean law defines a VASP — under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act (가상자산이용자보호법, “VAUPA”), which the Reporting Act incorporates by reference — as a person who, as a business, buys, sells, exchanges, transfers, stores or manages virtual assets, or brokers or arranges the buying, selling or exchange of such assets; the interpretation slotted referral activity into “brokering or arranging.”
That theory was always somewhat strained. A flat-fee promotion paid regardless of whether any trade occurs looks far more like advertising than brokering, and merely recommending an exchange is hard to characterize as intermediating the underlying transactions. Charging the promoter as a VASP in their own right was, in many fact patterns, a stretch.
The new theory: aiding an unregistered business
The June 2026 advisory sidesteps that difficulty. Rather than asking whether the promoter is a VASP, it characterizes referral promotion as assisting the exchange’s unregistered operation. In Korean criminal-law terms, this is accessory liability under Article 32 of the Criminal Act (형법) — the analogue of aiding and abetting in common-law systems.
The structure is cleaner. The principal offense is the exchange’s own crime: operating without FIU registration, a breach of the Reporting Act’s registration duty punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 50 million. A promoter need not handle or broker a single coin to be exposed; it is enough that, knowing the exchange was operating unregistered in Korea, they helped drive Korean users to it. Because accessory liability does not require the promoter to be a VASP at all, it avoids the definitional problem that dogged the earlier approach — which is precisely why it is the more coherent theory.
What this means for foreign operators and their promoters
The practical takeaway is that the “I only advertised” defense is weaker than it was. The basis for charging Korean KOLs, influencers, and community operators who push an unregistered exchange has shifted from a contestable VASP theory to firmer accessory-liability ground.
That said, not every referral amounts to aiding. Liability turns on two things: first, the exchange must actually be operating unregistered toward Korean residents — judged by markers such as a Korean-language site, KRW payment support, and Korea-directed marketing; and second, the promoter must have helped with knowledge of those circumstances. Simply introducing an exchange that does not target Korea, or a case where the promoter could not have known of the illegality, is unlikely to be swept in.
For operators, two implications follow. First, a referral or affiliate program aimed at Korea now carries real criminal exposure for your local partners — a reputational and recruitment problem even where the operator itself sits offshore. Second, the very existence of Korea-directed referral marketing is one of the markers the FIU uses to conclude that you are operating in Korea without registration. If Korea is not a market you intend to serve, Korea-targeted referral activity is exactly what to shut down. For the broader registration picture, see our guide to Korea’s crypto regulatory framework.
Cha & Kwon advises foreign exchanges, token issuers, and fintech companies on whether their Korean user exposure and marketing arrangements trigger registration obligations under Korean law, and on structuring referral and affiliate programs to manage that risk. Where a Korean promoter is already under scrutiny, we assess the registration status of the underlying operator together with the promoter’s knowledge and conduct to map the realistic exposure.
Related reading: Korea’s Crypto Referral Programs and the VASP Line — the earlier VASP-line analysis this development builds on; and Is Crypto Investment Advisory Legal in Korea Without a License?, on when crypto promotion or advice crosses into regulated territory.
Cha & Kwon Law Offices advises virtual asset businesses, fintech companies, and foreign investors on Korean regulatory compliance. For consultation, contact us at contact@chakwon.com or visit chakwon.com.
This article provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice for your specific situation. Please consult qualified Korean legal counsel regarding your particular circumstances.
