South Korea Urges Crypto Exchanges to Boost Cold Storage After Hack

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is urging domestic cryptocurrency exchanges to increase the share of customer assets stored in offline cold wallets following a reported $6.3 billion attack on Binance. The FSC conducted an emergency meeting with the Financial Supervisory Service, Financial Security Institute, Digital Asset eXchange Alliance and major crypto service providers to assess the breach’s impact on the local market.

South Korean regulations already require exchanges to keep at least 80% of users’ crypto assets in cold storage. At the end of September, Upbit reported a cold-wallet ratio of 99.17%, followed by Bithumb at 94.76% and Coinone at 85%. Digital X, formerly Korbit, held 82.79%, while GOPAX reported 80.54%, according to Financial Supervisory Service data cited by local media.

The FSC also urged exchanges to strengthen IT access controls, wallet withdrawal approvals, transaction-signing procedures and administrator privileges. Crypto platforms were advised to monitor deposits and withdrawals continuously, add incident-response personnel, rapidly report unusual access attempts and share relevant threat information with regulators and industry partners. Operators were also encouraged to maintain additional reserves and implement other immediate safeguards against similar breaches.

The warning follows an attack in which thieves reportedly moved about $6.3 billion from Binance’s internet-connected hot wallets within roughly 20 minutes, according to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. Binance has said most user assets are held in cold storage. The Bank of Korea is separately surveying 18 banks and 13 brokerages about crypto-related exposure, including major exchange hacks and prolonged market downturns.