South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said on October 13 that access to the websites of 27 unregistered crypto exchanges is being blocked inside the country. The list includes KuCoin, MEXC, BitMart, Phemex, BingX, Poloniex and BTCC. The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), which can order Korean internet providers to block a site, approved it on October 6 and 7.
The order works in two ways. A site hosted overseas is blocked at the network level, so a Korean connection no longer reaches it. A site with servers or an operator inside Korea receives a service termination order instead. The FIU said it will watch for replacement addresses and ask the KCSC for further blocks as they appear.
How the crackdown got to websites
Korea's Specific Financial Information Act requires any exchange serving Koreans to register with the FIU and hold an Information Security Management System (ISMS) certificate. Bloomingbit's account of the announcement says a foreign exchange falls under the rule when it offers Korean-language service, markets to Korean users or supports won payments. Operating without registration carries up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won, about $36,000.
Enforcement has moved outward in steps. Card purchases through unregistered operators have been restricted since May 2024. On March 25, 2025 the FIU announced that Google had blocked the Korean downloads and updates of 17 unregistered exchange apps, and on April 11, 2025 it said Apple had done the same for 14. Websites stayed reachable the whole time, which is the gap this decision closes.
Crypto purchases through unregistered operators cut off.
No new installs or updates in Korea.
Same treatment on the App Store.
Two sessions on 27 websites.
Overseas sites blocked, domestic ones terminated.
The app blocks left a hole, and at least one exchange used it. Seoul Economic Daily reported that BTCC resumed Korean service about two months after its exchange app was blocked by adding trading to its separate wallet app, which was then removed from both stores after the paper's reporting. The FIU's new line, as Crypto Briefing summarised it, is that it no longer needs to wait for confirmed consumer losses or a finished investigation before seeking a block, because unregistered operation is already illegal.
The scale is larger than the list. The FIU said it has referred 44 unregistered operators to investigators so far, against 28 providers currently registered. Financial News also reported a joint investigation in June 2026 by DAXA, the registered exchanges' group, and its members. The FIU said it is working with registered providers to stop transfers to unregistered operators.
Why the regulator says users should care
The FIU's argument is about protection rather than price. The announcement listed personal data theft and hacking exposure, investment fraud through non-delivery or excessive fees, and money laundering as the risks of unregistered venues, Financial News reported. None of those venues is bound by the investor protection rules that come with registration.
It also put a number on cost. The FIU said unregistered platforms charged trading fees of 1.5 to 10 percent, against an average of 0.16 percent at the five registered won exchanges. The comparison mixes spot fees with what the FIU describes as excessive charges by some operators, so the upper end is not a typical maker or taker rate. The gap still shows where the regulator thinks Korean traders lose money.
KuCoin, the best-known name on the list, gave CoinDesk a short statement: "User assets remain safe and secure, and we will communicate any further updates through our official channels." MEXC and BitMart had not commented in the reports we read. None of the 27 has a Korean registration to lose, so the practical effect for them is the loss of a market they were not licensed to serve.
What to watch
Two things are measurable. The first is how fast mirror domains appear and how fast the KCSC adds them, which the FIU has said it will request without a new round of evidence. The second is whether the 44 referrals produce prosecutions, which would be the first test of the five-year penalty against a foreign operator.
For traders outside Korea, nothing changes on these venues. For Korean users, the choice is now between the 28 registered providers and a blocked site reached through means the FIU has said it will also pursue. Our exchange listings guide explains why registration status shapes which tokens a venue can offer, and our wallet security basics cover the case for keeping long-term holdings off any exchange, registered or not.
