South Korea’s regulators have ordered domestic centralized crypto exchanges to implement

South Korea’s regulators have ordered domestic centralized crypto exchanges to implement automated asset reconciliations at five‑minute intervals, deploy emergency halt/kill‑switch mechanisms, and adopt enhanced audit and disclosure protocols, with firms required to complete system upgrades by the end of May 2026 ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

The directive follows an operational failure at major exchange Bithumb that, during a promotional campaign, accidentally transferred billions in Bitcoin to 249 users; some outlets reported the erroneous payout could be as large as $40 billion ^{[3] [2]}.

Alongside technical safeguards, regulators broadened market access and policy tools: corporations are now permitted to participate in the crypto market after an eight‑year ban, and the country’s central‑bank digital currency pilot has advanced to a new phase with nine commercial banks participating; authorities say the tightened rules elevate platform oversight to institutional compliance levels and impose more frequent audits and disclosure requirements ^{[3] [1] [4]}.

Officials describe the measures as aimed at restoring market stability and preventing repeat operational errors by forcing near‑real‑time verification and stronger operational safeguards across exchanges ^{[1] [2]}.