Crypto

Brokerages eye digital asset exchanges in race to secure future growth

South Korea\'s major brokerages are showing interest in digital asset exchanges, with Korea Investment & Securities reviewing a possible stake purchase in Coinone after Mirae Asset moved to buy a controlling stake in Korbit. The moves come despite regulatory uncertainty, including debate over limits on major shareholders\' stakes. Industry watchers say ownership rules could spur governance reshuffles and open acquisition opportunities for financial firms.

Crypto

South Korea financial regulators to check crypto exchange user assets every five minutes

South Korea\'s financial authorities will build an always-on system to monitor user assets at digital asset exchanges and sharply strengthen internal controls to financial-institution standards. The steps follow a recent mistaken payment incident at Bithumb and aim to fix structural problems and restore market trust. Regulators will require five-minute balance reconciliations, set automatic trade blocks for large discrepancies, shorten external audit checks to monthly from quarterly and expand disclosures.