On October 14–15, South Korea’s financial regulators moved forward on two initiatives.
First: The FSC plans to tighten cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions.
The move follows a recent industry-wide review by the FSC. It assessed the cybersecurity of 555 financial institutions using 12 indicators. As of October 8, it had found security weaknesses at 130 institutions, including 16 confirmed security incidents, with around 100,000 customer records exposed.
The institutions involved included two crypto exchanges: Streami, the operator of Gopax, and Prabang, which disclosed on October 2 that it had been hacked and some customer information had been leaked.
At its October 14 meeting, the FSC proposed several reforms: large financial institutions would have to undergo vulnerability assessments at least twice a year (the current standard is once a year, while external websites are already required to be assessed twice a year); additional security checks could be carried out outside the regular assessment cycle in response to urgent threats; and executive accountability would be strengthened.
At the meeting, FSC Secretary General Shin Jin-chang explicitly criticized financial institutions that had failed to implement basic cybersecurity requirements despite repeated warnings.
Second: The FIU blocked the websites of 27 unregistered overseas crypto platforms.
The measure took effect on October 13. South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced that, following a review completed by the Korea Communications Standards Commission on October 6–7, it had approved blocking the websites of 27 overseas crypto trading platforms that were not registered in South Korea, including KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, BingX, and BitMart.
The blocks are based on South Korea’s Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information: platforms cannot legally serve Korean users without registering. Criteria include whether they offer Korean-language services, conduct localized marketing in South Korea, or support trading in Korean won.
The FIU also acknowledged that blocking the websites could make it difficult for users with existing deposits to withdraw their funds.
Why this matters:
South Korea is one of the world’s biggest markets for retail crypto participation. XRP’s won-denominated trading volume on Upbit and Bithumb exceeded that of BTC and ETH on 181 of the 266 trading days so far this year.
South Korea currently has 28 registered virtual asset service providers.
For Korean users still using blocked platforms, the window to withdraw their assets is getting narrower.
$BTC
#韩国拟收紧金融网络安全规定
First: The FSC plans to tighten cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions.
The move follows a recent industry-wide review by the FSC. It assessed the cybersecurity of 555 financial institutions using 12 indicators. As of October 8, it had found security weaknesses at 130 institutions, including 16 confirmed security incidents, with around 100,000 customer records exposed.
The institutions involved included two crypto exchanges: Streami, the operator of Gopax, and Prabang, which disclosed on October 2 that it had been hacked and some customer information had been leaked.
At its October 14 meeting, the FSC proposed several reforms: large financial institutions would have to undergo vulnerability assessments at least twice a year (the current standard is once a year, while external websites are already required to be assessed twice a year); additional security checks could be carried out outside the regular assessment cycle in response to urgent threats; and executive accountability would be strengthened.
At the meeting, FSC Secretary General Shin Jin-chang explicitly criticized financial institutions that had failed to implement basic cybersecurity requirements despite repeated warnings.
Second: The FIU blocked the websites of 27 unregistered overseas crypto platforms.
The measure took effect on October 13. South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced that, following a review completed by the Korea Communications Standards Commission on October 6–7, it had approved blocking the websites of 27 overseas crypto trading platforms that were not registered in South Korea, including KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, BingX, and BitMart.
The blocks are based on South Korea’s Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information: platforms cannot legally serve Korean users without registering. Criteria include whether they offer Korean-language services, conduct localized marketing in South Korea, or support trading in Korean won.
The FIU also acknowledged that blocking the websites could make it difficult for users with existing deposits to withdraw their funds.
Why this matters:
South Korea is one of the world’s biggest markets for retail crypto participation. XRP’s won-denominated trading volume on Upbit and Bithumb exceeded that of BTC and ETH on 181 of the 266 trading days so far this year.
South Korea currently has 28 registered virtual asset service providers.
For Korean users still using blocked platforms, the window to withdraw their assets is getting narrower.
$BTC
#韩国拟收紧金融网络安全规定