Korea Cracks Down on Overseas Crypto Exchanges Amid HK Stablecoin Security Concerns

South Korea is tightening access to overseas cryptocurrency exchanges by requiring domestic exchanges to decide whether to permit outbound transfers based on the risk tier of the receiving platform. Users may be required to prove account ownership, state transaction purposes, and disclose fund sources when sending funds to certain offshore exchanges or personal wallets.

The provision will enter into force six months after official promulgation and applies to any single-transaction exceeding 10 million won, which will be subject to the exchange's in-house suspicious-transaction monitoring systems. This move follows the removal of overseas-exchange apps from South Korea's local Google Play store, including Bybit, MEXC, and HTX.

In another development, a blockchain security firm has identified multiple security and compliance issues with Hong Kong's HKDAP stablecoin, which is issued by Anchorpoint Financial. The firm found that operations such as minting, freezing, pausing, and forced burning of HKDAP can be partially performed by a single role, and the governance process lacks a timelock.