South Korea's GOPAX Halts Trading and Withdrawals Following Hack Threat

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange GOPAX suspended deposits, standard withdrawals, and trading on Nov. 6 following an email threat warning of a cyberattack ¹. A representative for GOPAX told local newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun that no unauthorized breach or theft had taken place at the time of the announcement ¹. According to notices issued by the exchange, deposits and normal withdrawals were paused at 5:55 am UTC, while trading was halted at 6:53 am UTC, automatically canceling all open, unfilled orders ¹.

To safeguard user balances, GOPAX stated that it is shifting all platform digital assets into offline cold storage wallets, referencing security advisories from domestic financial regulators ¹. While standard automated withdrawals remain offline, GOPAX indicated that customers can submit manual requests through its customer support desk, though manual verification checks are expected to cause processing delays ¹.

Regulatory Scrutiny and Cold Storage Mandates

The defensive freeze follows regulatory pressure from South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC), which recently urged domestic exchanges to boost cold storage reserves after a massive security breach elsewhere in the industry ¹. South Korean regulatory standards mandate that centralized crypto platforms hold a minimum of 80% of client digital assets in cold storage ¹. Data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service showed that GOPAX maintained 80.54% of customer assets in offline wallets at the end of September, barely clearing the statutory baseline ¹.

The move also coincides with heightened regulatory oversight across South Korea's digital asset sector ¹. In October, the FSC uncovered cybersecurity vulnerabilities at 130 of 555 evaluated domestic financial entities, flagging Streami—the corporate operator of GOPAX—as well as rival platform Prabang among 16 entities connected to past security lapses ¹. Prabang itself halted operations on Oct. 24 following an irregular hot wallet drain totaling approximately 100 million won ($70,000), which the company pledged to cover using internal reserves ¹.