South Korea Blocks Access to 29 Foreign Crypto Exchanges on Google Play

South Korea has tightened its grip on foreign cryptocurrency exchanges by removing 29 apps from Google Play. The decision was made in line with stricter app store policies tied to South Korea's virtual asset regulations.

The affected exchanges include major platforms such as OKX, Bybit, MEXC, KuCoin, and Gemini. According to Digital Asset, which reviewed the top 50 cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges listed by CoinMarketCap, 29 of these exchanges could no longer be installed on Android devices via Google Play.

Google introduced a stricter policy in January this year, requiring all exchange apps to complete VASP registration with South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) before being listed on the app store. The current restrictions affect exchanges in different ways depending on the platform.

Existing users may still access web versions of these exchanges, and iOS availability remains unchanged for now. However, the move marks another step in South Korea's tightening oversight of overseas cryptocurrency platforms.