South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) is considering requiring crypto exchanges to hold about 99% of customer assets in cold wallets, a change that could leave less hot-wallet liquidity for withdrawals.
Under South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act, exchanges must keep at least 80% of customer holdings in cold wallets. The FSC discussed options for increasing offline holdings with exchange representatives during a recent review, covered in EconoTimes’ account of its exchange security review.
Coinone holds about 85% of assets offline and Bithumb about 94%, while Upbit exceeds 99%.
Keeping a larger reserve offline would leave exchanges with a smaller online balance to meet customer withdrawal requests. Smaller and midsize platforms close to the 80% floor could face added operating pressure if the requirement rises.
In August 2026, some altcoin withdrawals at Bithumb were delayed by about 13 hours after its hot wallets lacked funds, showing how available online balances can affect withdrawal timing. The FSC has not decided whether to move the minimum from 80% to about 99%.
