New Plan in South Korea After Binance Attack: Withdrawals from Exchanges May Slow Down

South Korea is considering raising the mandatory cold-wallet holding ratio for customer assets at crypto exchanges to roughly 99%, a move prompted by the Binance attack and now under review by financial authorities. Industry representatives warn the stricter requirement could slow withdrawals, as exchanges would need to keep nearly all customer funds offline and maintain larger buffers for liquidity. The plan signals tighter custody rules for Korean exchanges, which would need to rebalance hot- and cold-wallet holdings to comply. Market participants will watch the Financial Services Commission's final ratio and implementation timeline, and whether exchanges adjust withdrawal processing times or fees in response.