Following the recent bankruptcy announcement by Youbit after a major hack, the South Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said that it is investigating domestic cryptocurrency exchanges for violations of consumer laws.

According to a joint press release by a number of South Korean government agencies, the FTC conducted on-site investigation of 13 of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, ETHNews reported. In addition to the FTC, the document has been signed off by the Department of Finance Policy, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the VAT Tax Department, and the central bank, among others.

“Based on the contents of the investigation, the FTC will take action in accordance with relevant laws and regulations,” the document reads.

The Ministry of Science and Technology last week announced that Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone, and Upbit are required to receive "2018 Information Security Management System Certification." They have also been urged to strengthen the security of their exchanges.

The certification is required for companies that have “sales of over 10 billion won and an average daily visitor number of over 1 million.” Exchanges that are excluded from this certification will be subject to the Personal Information Management System – an autonomous certification system that evaluates the comprehensive management system of collecting, using and destroying personal information of a company.

Furthermore, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy has sent a cooperation letter to other government agencies to help control illegal virtual currency mining activities.

The press release states, “the FSS [Financial Supervisory Service] has held practical consultations with banks that are planning to provide a service to establish a system for verifying the identity of [cryptocurrency exchange] users.”

“The Financial Supervisory Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service are planning to inspect and take measures to ensure that the user confirmation system runs smoothly during January-June [2018].”