Korea weighs token securities on crypto exchanges as Bithumb fights FIU penalty

24 Oct 2026

24 Oct 2026, 03:26 UTC+02:00

Regulation TradeReviewed News Desk

South Korea’s crypto rulebook is shifting on three fronts at once: what exchanges may list, how they are punished, and how closely the central bank watches users.

Token securities on crypto exchanges

Financial Services Commission chairman Lee Eog-weon told a National Assembly audit he is open to letting token securities trade through crypto exchange infrastructure. Lawmaker Lee Kang-il argued that excluding exchange types makes little sense when the same securities and investor protection rules apply. The chairman said he would weigh market conditions, investor protection, possible merging of licence units and concurrent operations, pointing to the US SEC’s “Innovation Exemption” for tokenized stocks as a reference. Amendments that give token securities a legal basis take effect on 4 February 2027.

Bithumb in court

The FSC’s Financial Intelligence Unit defended its sanction against Bithumb at the Seoul Administrative Court’s first hearing on Thursday. The FIU says Bithumb processed 45,772 transfers with 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset providers between August 2022 and April 2025, and imposed a 36.8 billion won (about $24.5 million) fine and a six-month partial suspension that stops new customers from moving assets off the platform.

Bithumb argues the travel rule automatically blocked transfers of 1 million won or more to unregistered providers, that it had no legal right to collect receiver details on smaller transfers, and that the FIU relied on a private foreign tool, Chainalysis. A similar argument won in April 2026, when the same court cancelled a three-month suspension of Upbit operator Dunamu. The next hearing is on 28 January 2027.

New central bank reporting

From 2 December, any domestic exchange user who has sent digital assets to an overseas exchange or private wallet since 19 July 2024 will have month-end holdings reported to the Bank of Korea’s foreign exchange network under a new FX1021 filing, even in months without transfers. Exchanges must file by the 10th of the following month.

What it means for traders

• Offshore transfers are tracked: Korean users moving funds to global exchanges should expect ongoing reporting.
• Exchange product scope may widen: tokenized stocks and bonds could come to Korean crypto exchanges after 2027.
• Compare global venues: see our exchange comparison and our testing methodology.

Sources

• Cryptopolitan: Seoul weighs letting crypto exchanges trade token securities as Bithumb fights regulators in court

News is for information only and is not financial advice. More crypto news