The Financial Services Commission has proposed new governance rules forcing Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit to cut major owners' stakes to 15–20%, aiming to reduce concentration and conflicts of interest.
South Korean police say Binance froze only about 17% of funds tied to the Upbit hack, prompting renewed questions about how major exchanges handle cross‑border law enforcement requests. The disclosure has sparked debate over transparency and the effectiveness of emergency freeze mechanisms.
South Korean exchange Upbit will move an additional 1% of user deposits into cold storage, increasing offline holdings from 98% to 99%. The change is intended to reduce hot-wallet exposure and strengthen custody security for users.
After a $30 million breach at Upbit, South Korean regulators are moving to impose bank‑grade requirements on cryptocurrency exchanges to strengthen custody and operational controls. The shift could force smaller platforms to upgrade or exit and is expected to accelerate enforcement timelines.
Upbit said it has frozen roughly $1.77 million in assets linked to a recent hack and is investigating the theft while working to recover the funds. The move comes as the exchange continues forensic tracing of transfers tied to the incident.
Seoul will extend the same no-fault compensation rules that apply to banks to cryptocurrency exchanges after the Upbit breach, citing gaps in consumer protection exposed by the attack.
Upbit founders Song Chi-hyung and Kim Hyoung-nyon became billionaires after selling Dunamu to Naver in a $13.6 billion deal. The acquisition highlights a major corporate play into South Korea’s crypto ecosystem.
Upbit will begin a phased resumption of deposits and withdrawals on December 1, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. KST. The exchange said services will be restored in stages rather than all at once.
Dunamu’s CEO apologized after a security breach at Upbit prompted the exchange to revise its estimated losses tied to Solana-related activity. The incident heightens scrutiny of exchange security and hot-wallet management.
Upbit said it fully repaid 38.6 billion won in user assets using its own reserves after a recent security breach. The exchange says no customer balances were lost.