South Korea cuts off access to 27 crypto exchange websites, including KuCoin and MEXC: what happens to customers' coins

What the financial intelligence unit decided

The FIU operates under South Korea's Financial Services Commission and keeps the register of companies allowed to provide virtual asset services. On October 13, 2026, the agency said the country's communications standards commission had reviewed its request at meetings on October 6 and 7 and approved the blocking of 27 websites.

The measure depends on where the platform is based:

• sites with servers or an operator inside the country will be shut down;
• sites of foreign operators will be made unreachable from South Korea.

The FIU described the point of the decision this way: blocking measures against illegal virtual asset operators now extend to websites too. Until now, only mobile apps were restricted. The reports do not say exactly when the block will be in place at every internet provider.

Which exchanges are on the list

News outlets do not publish the full list of 27 addresses. Cointelegraph and crypto.news name these platforms:

None of these exchanges is registered in Korea, but the regulator believes they serve Korean customers. The FIU did not say how many residents keep money there or how much.

What happens to customers' coins

Blocking a website does not freeze accounts. The exchanges keep running, and only access from South Korea is closed. But the website is exactly how a customer withdraws coins, and the FIU openly admits that withdrawals may get harder.

What the regulator promises and what it advises:

• it will give customers withdrawal instructions together with DAXA, the association of Korean exchanges, and the operators themselves;
• move your assets off unregistered platforms, and check a service's registration before you deposit anywhere;
• do not hand such operators private keys, passwords or documents;
• do not trust promises of high returns or guaranteed investments.

There is no deadline for withdrawals. There is also no confirmation that each of the 27 platforms will help its customers. The FIU promises to watch for the exchanges' backup addresses and block them with new requests. And people who bring customers to such platforms through referral programs may, the agency says, face criminal liability.

The story shows once again the difference between an exchange account and your own wallet. Coins in an account are available as long as the platform is available to you. Coins at your own address do not depend on its website. We cover this in detail in our guide to custodial and non-custodial wallets. You do not need a platform account to buy or swap either: an instant crypto exchange sends the coins straight to your address and does not hold them.

Why the sites are being blocked

The legal basis is the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, Korea's main anti-money-laundering law. Any service that targets Korean customers must register with the FIU and, among other things, obtain an information security management system (ISMS) certificate. The register currently lists 28 companies.

A foreign platform is treated as targeting Korea based on three signs:

• it has a Korean-language website;
• it advertises to Korean users;
• it accepts payment in won.

Operating without registration carries up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won. According to crypto.news, the FIU has already referred 44 unregistered operators to investigators. The agency can now request a site block as soon as it detects such activity, without waiting for a criminal case or confirmed customer losses.

How Korea got to blocking websites

Websites are the latest step in a long chain:

• May 2024: a ban took effect on paying by bank card for purchases from unregistered operators;
• March 2025: Google Play restricted 17 apps of such exchanges at the regulator's request;
• April 2025: the App Store closed downloads and updates for 14 apps;
• October 2026: the websites' turn came.

Registered Korean exchanges are also barred from transfers to such platforms, with fines of up to 100 million won per violation. In April 2026 the FIU said the exchange Coinone had processed 10,113 transfers involving 16 unregistered foreign services.

The regulator explains its tough line by the risks to customers: personal data leaks, hacks, money laundering, and cases where a person pays for crypto and never receives it. In June 2026 DAXA and the registered exchanges reviewed a group of illegal operators and found fees of 1.5% to 10% per trade. At the five largest Korean exchanges with won trading the average fee is 0.16%, so the gap reached roughly 62 times. The Financial Services Commission attributes these figures to the operators it reviewed, not to all 27 blocked platforms.

What this story teaches

First. Access to coins on an exchange depends on the exchange and also on the regulator in your country. A platform can run smoothly and still end up behind a block overnight.

Second. Check a service before you send money, not after. What to look at and where is covered in our guide on how to check if a crypto exchange is legit before you send.

Third. Savings you do not need for trading right now are safer at your own address. The keys are then yours, and the main risk is a different one: losing the seed phrase. We have a separate article on how to store a seed phrase.

In the same week Korea showed the other side of its approach: on October 12, Jeonbuk Bank issued the country's first bank loan backed by bitcoin. Those who play by Korean rules find the doors open. Those who operate without registration find them shut.

How to exchange crypto without an account and receive it in your own wallet

On VertEXchange, you exchange without an account on a platform: no sign-up, no email, no phone number. You choose a pair, paste your wallet address, and see the rate and the amount you will receive before you send anything. The coins go straight to your address and VertEXchange does not store them, so there is simply no balance here that you could lose access to.

• The fixed rate holds for about 15 minutes while the transfer is being confirmed.
• You can set a refund address: the coins go back there if the exchange does not go through.
• Personal fields of the transaction are deleted 24 hours after it is completed.
• A support chat is on every page, and questions are handled by exchange code.

Most often this is how people move stablecoins into bitcoin: you can exchange USDT TRC20 to bitcoin without an exchange account and hold the BTC yourself. If what you have is ether, there is a pair where you can swap ETH to BTC with payout to your own wallet.

The way back is open too: when you need a stable price, you can sell bitcoin for USDT TRC20 and receive the stablecoins at your own address on the TRON network.

FAQ

Which crypto exchanges is South Korea blocking?

The websites of 27 unregistered platforms. Outlets name KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, Bitrue, CoinW, BTCC, BitMart and BingX, as well as XT.com, Poloniex and DigiFinex. The reports do not give the full list.

Will KuCoin and MEXC customers in Korea have their funds frozen?

No, it is access to the websites that is blocked, not the accounts. But withdrawing coins will get harder, and the FIU admits it. The regulator promises to issue withdrawal instructions together with the DAXA association.

What is the deadline to withdraw coins from the blocked exchanges?

No date has been set. The FIU advises moving assets off unregistered platforms without waiting until access is closed at every internet provider.

Why are these exchanges considered illegal in South Korea?

They are not registered with the FIU even though, in the regulator's view, they serve Korean customers: they run a Korean-language site, advertise in the country or accept won.

Does the block affect users in other countries?

No. Only access from South Korea is closed, and in other countries the platforms work as before.

What are the penalties for using these exchanges?

The FIU's statements say nothing about penalties for customers. Criminal liability applies to unregistered operators and, according to the agency, may extend to people who bring others to such platforms for a reward.