South Korea blocks 27 unregistered crypto exchange websites

South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit has moved to block the websites of 27 unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges — KuCoin, BitMart, MEXC, CoinW, BTCC, BingX, DigiFinex, and Phemex among them — following approval from the Korea Communications Standards Commission after reviews on October 6 and 7, according to CoinDesk’s report on Tuesday’s announcement.

The requirement isn’t new. Foreign exchanges serving South Korean customers must register with the FIU and satisfy security and anti-money-laundering standards. What’s changed is the enforcement reach: in 2025, authorities pushed Apple’s App Store and Google Play to restrict downloads and updates for 14 and 17 unregistered exchange apps respectively, per Cointelegraph. Tuesday’s action moves the same logic from app distribution to direct web access.

The procedural threshold is also worth noting. Regulators can now seek a website block the moment they detect unregistered activity, without waiting for a court ruling or evidence of customer losses. The FIU has referred 44 unregistered operators to investigators. Twenty-eight virtual asset service providers currently hold registration with the regulator, which means this single enforcement sweep blocked sites equal to 96.4% of that registered base — not a measure of the total unregistered market, but a signal of how large one action can be relative to the licensed pool available to South Korean users.

For anyone holding funds on the affected platforms, the practical question is getting money out. The FIU says it will work with the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance, known as DAXA, to support customer withdrawals. No deadline for registration, no duration for each block, and no per-exchange withdrawal procedure appears in the available information.

KuCoin issued its own assurances. A spokesperson said the company respects “applicable laws and regulations across jurisdictions,” that its compliance framework is being strengthened as requirements change, and that “User assets remain safe and secure, and we will communicate any further updates through our official channels.” Whether South Korean regulators share that confidence about an unregistered platform is a separate matter.

The capital-flow backdrop predates Tuesday’s announcement by months. CoinDesk reported that South Korean investors moved an estimated $110 billion off domestic exchanges in 2025 as rules tightened.