Korean Regulators Tighten Exchange Oversight with Real-Time Asset Checks

South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has ordered domestic crypto exchanges to implement automated systems that reconcile ledger records with wallet balances every five minutes. The directive was issued following a meeting between regulators and major exchanges, including Bithumb.

The FSC reviewed findings from an emergency inspection triggered by a payout error at Bithumb in February. Regulators discovered that three of the country's five largest exchanges were only reconciling internal ledgers against actual asset holdings once every 24 hours.

As a result, new rules require exchanges to deploy automated systems that reconcile ledger records with wallet balances every five minutes. Exchanges must also establish clear thresholds that trigger automatic transaction halts when significant mismatches are detected.