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1. Key Points from the Financial Services Commission (FSC)

[Promotion and Intermediation of Unregistered Virtual Asset Service Providers Also Subject to Regulation]
 

Under the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (the “AML Act”), only 27 virtual asset service providers (VASPs) are currently registered with Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
 

In a recent press release, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that promotional, intermediary, or brokerage activities conducted on behalf of unregistered virtual asset service providers may also constitute illegal conduct and will be subject to strict enforcement.
 

The FSC identified the following activities as key areas of concern:

• Marketing or soliciting Korean residents on behalf of unregistered VASPs (including overseas exchanges)

• Introducing, brokering, or intermediating unregistered VASPs (e.g., referral programs)

Promoting services or inducing sign-ups through Telegram channels, open chat rooms, or similar platforms
 

In other words, activities that go beyond merely sharing a link and instead form a structure that can be evaluated as “business conduct” may fall within the scope of regulatory sanctions.
 

2. Crypto Referrals: Simple Promotion or Brokerage Activity?

Many operators assume that crypto referral activities are lawful simply because they do not directly operate an exchange.

However, the legal interpretation may differ.
 

Under the AML Act, any entity that conducts brokerage or intermediation of virtual asset trading as a business is required to register as a virtual asset service provider.

While there is not yet a Supreme Court decision directly addressing crypto referral structures, guidance can be drawn from court precedents involving structurally similar FX margin trading arrangements.
 

3. Judicial Perspective: Comparable Court Precedents

In prior cases, Korean courts have held that providing account-opening links to overseas trading platforms and receiving commissions proportional to customers’ trading volumes—approximately 25% in certain cases—constituted regulated brokerage activity under the Capital Markets Act rather than mere marketing.
 

By analogy, crypto referral schemes that repeatedly induce user sign-ups through referral links and receive ongoing revenue shares based on transaction fees may be at risk of being classified as “unregistered virtual asset brokerage.”
 

4. Not All Referral Structures Are Illegal

Key Criteria for Assessing Illegality

Crypto referral activities are not automatically unlawful. Regulatory risk varies significantly depending on how the structure is designed and operated.
 

Structures with Lower Legal Risk

• Providing general information or promotional content without receiving commissions

• Registering referral codes for users who were already using the exchange

• Offering non-targeted, general introductions to the public

Structures with Higher Legal Risk

• Promising high returns or offering automated trading programs conditional upon exchange sign-up

• Actively distributing referral links while repeatedly receiving transaction-based commissions
   

5. Why Advance Legal Review Is Essential

Regulation of crypto referral models remains an evolving area. As a result, the boundary between lawful and unlawful conduct can shift substantially depending on the underlying business structure.
 

Decent Law Firm’s Virtual Asset Practice Team continuously monitors regulatory guidance from authorities, investigative trends, and emerging court decisions. Based on verified enforcement cases, the team provides multi-layered legal risk analysis of referral, promotional, and intermediary business models.
 

Addressing issues only after regulatory scrutiny begins is fundamentally different from proactively reviewing and adjusting a business structure in advance—and the outcomes can differ dramatically.
 

6. Navigating Crypto Regulation with Decent’s Virtual Asset Practice Team

Decent Law Firm’s Virtual Asset Practice Team provides hands-on advisory services across the full spectrum of crypto regulation, including issues involving unregistered VASP operations, referral programs, and the legal compliance of trading signal groups.
 

For businesses currently operating referral-based models—or planning to do so—conducting a proper legal review now is the most practical and effective course of action.
 

Decent delivers clear operational guidelines for sustainable business management and supports rapid response through dedicated communication channels with experienced attorneys when issues arise.
 

Decent Law Firm—Where the Answers to Regulatory Uncertainty Are Found.
Partner with Decent to proactively navigate the evolving crypto regulatory landscape.