South Korea's FSC reportedly discussing raising the cold wallet custody ratio for exchanges to approximately 99%
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AT A GLANCE
South Korea's Financial Services Commission is reportedly discussing raising the cold wallet storage ratio for exchanges from over 80% to approximately 99%, with the plan still under consideration.
Article
South Korean financial authorities plan to raise the cold wallet storage ratio requirement for exchanges to 99%
PANews November 3. According to reports by South Korea's News1, industry sources said that the Financial Services Commission (FSC）November 2 held an emergency security inspection meeting with major cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians, using the Binance theft incident as a catalyst to discuss raising the cold wallet storage ratio for exchanges. The plan currently under consideration is to raise the ratio from the current minimum of 80% or above as stipulated by the Virtual Asset User Protection Act to approximately the 99% level maintained by some large exchanges. It is reported that Upbit's cold wallet storage ratio for user assets exceeds 99%, Bithumb's is approximately 94%, Coinone's is 85%，GOPAX, and other exchanges are at just over 80%. Industry insiders warned that raising the ratio would reduce the hot wallet assets available for immediate withdrawals, potentially leading to withdrawal delays and increasing the operational burden on small and medium-sized exchanges; in August this year, Bithumb experienced a partial...
Key points
01
PANews, citing a report by South Korea's News1 on November 3, stated that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) held an emergency security inspection meeting with major cryptocurrency exchanges and custodians on November 2.
02
The meeting took the Binance theft incident as an opportunity to discuss increasing the proportion of assets held in exchange cold wallets.
03
The current proposal under consideration is to increase the cold wallet custody ratio from the 80% or more stipulated in the current Virtual Asset User Protection Act to approximately 99%.
04
The proportions listed in the report are: Upbit exceeds 99%, Bithumb is approximately 94%, Coinone is 85% ， GOPAX, and other exchanges are just over 80%.
05
Industry insiders warn that increasing the proportion of cold wallets will reduce the hot wallet assets available for instant withdrawals, potentially causing withdrawal delays and increasing the operational burden on small and medium-sized exchanges.
AI-assisted interpretation
The following is analysis, separate from reported facts. Verify important claims independently.
Cold wallets are usually not directly connected to the internet. The report discusses having exchanges place more user assets into cold wallets. This may strengthen asset segregation, but the hot wallet balances that exchanges can immediately use to process withdrawals will decrease, so withdrawal speed and operational arrangements may be affected.
Why it matters to readers
If this plan is implemented, South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges will need to adjust their asset custody ratios; platforms with currently low cold wallet ratios may face greater adjustments and operational pressure, and users should also pay attention to whether withdrawals are delayed.
Newcomers should distinguish between "under discussion" and "the rule has already taken effect." Current reports only say that regulators are considering a plan of about 99%, and do not state that it has been formally implemented.
Risks and unknowns
The message comes from PANews, citing ["News1"] and industry sources; the original text does not provide the formal decision of the Korean Financial Services Commission.
It is unclear whether approximately ["99%"] of the proposals will be adopted, when they will be implemented, and their specific scope of application.
The end of the evidence body is truncated, and the full details of Bithumb's August incident this year cannot be confirmed.
Whether the increased ratio actually causes withdrawal delays or operational adjustments remains to be seen.
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Related concepts
Cold wallet
A wallet that generates keys in a completely offline environment, effectively reducing the risk of network attacks.
