South Korea blocks the websites of 27 crypto exchanges, including KuCoin and MEXC
South Korea is blocking the websites of 27 crypto exchanges and other virtual asset businesses that have not registered with its financial regulators, among them KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, Bitrue, BingX and Poloniex. The Financial Services Commission announced the decision on 13 October. The Korea Media and Communications Standards Commission approved the blocks at the request of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) after reviewing the sites on 6 and 7 October. The exact date the blocks take effect has not been announced.
From apps to websites
The exchanges already lost their Korean app store presence. In March 2025 Google Play started restricting 17 apps of unregistered exchanges at the regulators' request, and in April 2025 Apple followed with downloads and updates of 14 such apps. The websites stayed open, and Korean users kept trading through the browser. "With this decision, blocking measures against illegal virtual asset operators will also apply to internet websites," the FIU said.
Sites hosted abroad will be blocked for users in Korea, and services with servers or operators inside the country will be shut down. The FIU counts an exchange as targeting Koreans if it offers a Korean-language service, advertises to Korean users or supports trading in won. The other named platforms are XT.com, CoinW, BTCC, BitMart and DigiFinex. Only 28 virtual asset businesses are currently registered with the FIU.
What happens to users' money
The regulator admits that customers "could have difficulty withdrawing assets." It says it will work with DAXA, the association of Korea's registered exchanges, and the businesses themselves to give withdrawal instructions. No common deadline for withdrawals has been set, and the FIU has not confirmed that every blocked exchange will help its customers.
The website is only one of the routes being closed. The FIU has told registered Korean exchanges to restrict transfers of crypto to and from the unregistered ones, and fines for violating that can reach 100 million won per case. In April 2026 the FIU disclosed that Coinone had processed 10,113 transfers involving 16 unregistered foreign providers. Credit card purchases from unregistered providers have been restricted since May 2024.
Why the regulator is doing it
Running a crypto business in Korea without registration can bring up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won, and 44 unregistered operators have already been referred to investigators. The FIU warns that customers of such businesses risk leaks of personal data, hacks, money laundering and paying for coins they never receive. A joint investigation led by DAXA in June 2026 found fees of 1.5% to 10% at the businesses it examined, against an average of 0.16% at the five largest won-based exchanges. The FIU says it will watch for mirror domains and request new blocks when they appear.
How the block works
The blocks are administrative: no court is involved. Korea uses the same procedure against gambling, pornography and piracy sites. Since 2019 Korea has enforced such blocks by inspecting the SNI field of HTTPS connections, the unencrypted site name a browser sends when it connects. Our country-by-country guide to blocking without a court puts South Korea among the countries where a regulator, not a judge, decides.
SNI filtering does not reach traffic sent through a VPN, which is legal in South Korea, so the sites themselves will stay reachable for anyone who uses one. That changes less than it seems. Moving money into and out of these exchanges usually goes through Korean banks and registered exchanges, and that is exactly the route the regulator is now restricting.
