Korea Regulators Enforce Stricter Asset Reconciliation Checks

The Financial Services Commission in South Korea has ordered local cryptocurrency exchanges to implement automated asset reconciliation checks every five minutes. This directive follows an emergency inspection triggered by a payout error at Bithumb earlier this year, which revealed that three of the country's largest exchanges only reconciled internal ledgers against actual holdings once daily.

The inspection found that exchange systems designed to activate when large discrepancies arise were inadequate. The FSC and Digital Asset Exchange Alliance have agreed on new rules requiring exchanges to separate high-risk accounts from standard operations, use automated tools to verify payments before processing, and publish detailed asset breakdowns in their disclosures.

Bithumb has pushed its IPO target to after 2028, citing a need to strengthen accounting policies and internal controls. Naver Financial also delayed its planned share swap with Dunamu by roughly three months, now targeting a shareholder vote on August 18.