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GOPAX, a cryptocurrency exchange operating in South Korea and controlled by Streami (a company in which Binance holds 67.45% of shares), has suspended trading operations, deposits, and standard withdrawals. The decision was announced on Friday at 14:55 regarding withdrawals and at 15:53 for trading, following the receipt of a hacking threat sent via email.
Why it matters
The move comes amid heightened regulatory vigilance. On November 2, the Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) held an emergency meeting with major local exchanges following the theft of nearly $6.3 billion from Binance. During the meeting, platforms were asked to increase the proportion of cryptocurrencies stored offline. GOPAX stated that the suspension is a preventive measure, adopted also on recommendation from financial authorities and in light of data breaches at other companies in the sector.
The numbers
As of September 30, 80.54% of Streami/GOPAX customers’ cryptocurrencies were already stored in cold wallets, exceeding the Korean legal minimum threshold of 80%. For comparison, on the same date Upbit reported a share of 99.17% and Bithumb 94.76%. Before the full migration completed on Friday, Unchained estimated that approximately 19.46% of GOPAX customers’ assets were still online. No financial losses or confirmed unauthorized accesses have been reported so far.
What remains to be understood
A GOPAX official told the Yonhap news agency that the company has not yet confirmed whether the threat received was real. The exchange’s official notifications do not explicitly mention a specific threat, but refer to a series of data breaches in the sector. It has not been clarified whether a regulator directly ordered the suspension of operations. Furthermore, GOPAX has not specified whether deposits and withdrawals in South Korean won are affected by the measure. Currently, users can only make withdrawals via manual request through email to customer support, exclusively to personal wallets registered on the platform; transfers to other exchanges are temporarily prohibited.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Bitcoin Magazine, Unchained.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or an investment recommendation.
* Content created with the assistance of artificial intelligence systems.