Korean Exchanges Cut Balance Checks to Under Five Minutes

South Korea's largest digital-asset exchanges have implemented real-time balance checks to prevent overpayments and other financial incidents. The five exchanges, Bithumb, Coinone, Digital X, Gopax, and Upbit, now conduct reconciliation cycles every two to five minutes.

The move comes after a Bitcoin (BTC) overpayment incident in February that prompted Bithumb to introduce a real-time reconciliation system running every two minutes. Coinone, Digital X, and Gopax also built automated systems with intervals of five minutes or less.

Financial authorities required the exchanges to implement always-on balance reconciliation systems with under-five-minute cycles so they can respond quickly to incidents. Upbit has been operating five-minute reconciliation checks since November 2022.