GOPAX Halts Trading and Withdrawals After Hacking Threat

South Korean crypto exchange GOPAX suspended deposits and regular withdrawals at 5:55 a.m. UTC on Nov. 6 after receiving an email threatening a hack. Trading stopped at 6:53 a.m. UTC, and the exchange canceled all unfilled orders.

A GOPAX representative said no hack or attempted theft had been detected when the suspensions were announced. Customers can still request withdrawals through the exchange’s support center, but manual checks and approvals may delay processing.

GOPAX plans to transfer all customer crypto assets to cold wallets, which are offline storage systems. The exchange cited recent leaks and hacking incidents involving financial institutions and recommendations from South Korean financial regulators.

The Financial Services Commission recently urged domestic crypto exchanges to increase their use of cold storage after a $6.3 billion hack involving Binance. South Korean exchanges must keep at least 80% of customer crypto assets in offline wallets.

Financial Supervisory Service data showed that GOPAX held 80.54% of customer assets in cold storage at the end of September, close to the regulatory minimum.

In October, the Financial Services Commission reported cybersecurity deficiencies at 130 of 555 financial companies reviewed across South Korea. The regulator also identified GOPAX operator Streami among 16 companies linked to earlier security incidents and announced plans for tighter cybersecurity oversight.

South Korean crypto exchange Prabang suspended services on Oct. 24 after detecting abnormal withdrawals from its hot wallet. The incident caused losses of about 100 million won ($70,000). Prabang plans to reimburse affected customers with company funds.

Reviewed and fact-checked by Alex Panasenko on November 6.