South Korean authorities have approved measures to block domestic access to 27 websites operated by unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges and virtual asset service providers, expanding an ongoing crackdown on offshore platforms that serve local customers without regulatory approval.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the agency that oversees anti-money laundering compliance in the country's virtual asset sector, said the decision followed reviews by the Korea Media and Communications Standards Commission on October 6 and 7, 2026.

The affected platforms include KuCoin, MEXC, Phemex, Bitrue, CoinW, BTCC, BitMart, Blofin, WEEX, Poloniex, P2B, SUPEREX, Nonkyc.io, ZoomEX, BingX, and DigiFinex, among others.

The restrictions target operators that have not registered under South Korea's Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, the country's anti-money laundering framework for virtual asset businesses. The registration requirement has applied to virtual asset businesses since 2021, and it is the dividing line between operators supervised by the FIU in Korea and offshore platforms that operate outside the country's regulatory oversight. Measured by scope, the decision is one of the more sweeping of its kind, covering 27 sites in a single action and including several major global trading venues.

Under the enforcement measures, authorities can terminate services hosted domestically or block access to websites operated from overseas. In assessing whether foreign platforms are targeting South Korean customers, regulators examine factors such as the availability of Korean-language services, local marketing activity, and support for transactions in South Korean won — the same criteria that extend Korean rules to platforms hosted entirely abroad.

The move extends earlier restrictions that removed unregistered exchange applications from Google Play and Apple's App Store. The website blockade and the earlier app-store removals both target platforms that have not completed registration with the FIU. Together they shift enforcement from app distribution to web access itself, closing off additional routes through which Korean users could reach unregistered operators. Authorities have said unregistered platforms pose risks involving money laundering, cybersecurity, and consumer protection because they operate outside the country's regulatory oversight, which means customers of these platforms lack the safeguards that apply to users of registered exchanges.

The FIU acknowledged that blocking the websites could make it more difficult for existing customers to withdraw their assets. It said it would coordinate withdrawal guidance and support through the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), a self-regulatory coalition of South Korea's major licensed exchanges, with the cooperation of the affected operators. For customers still holding funds on the blocked platforms, the immediate development to watch is how that withdrawal coordination is carried out; with the crackdown described as ongoing, further FIU actions against unregistered platforms are also worth monitoring.

Source: BitcoinKE