South Korean regulators took center stage in the past 24 hours after launching a sanctions process against Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, and outlining a broader push to tighten oversight of the virtual asset market with artificial intelligence. According to Yonhap, authorities have sent an inspection report to Dunamu following a 44.5 billion won hacking incident, starting a formal sanctions procedure whose outcome remains uncertain because there is no direct penalty rule for hacks or computer system failures under the current framework. Separately, KBS reported that South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said it has completed about 40 investigations into unfair virtual asset trading in the two years since the Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect, and has referred or reported more than 30 cases to judicial authorities. The FSC said the next phase of oversight will include an AI-based monitoring system capable of real-time market surveillance, second-level price manipulation analysis, and automated detection of suspicious accounts and trading ranges. The broader market update also included missed U.S. stablecoin rulemaking deadlines under the GENIUS Act, a South Korean roadmap for won internationalization and won-denominated stablecoins, fresh liquidation data from Coinglass, new figures on Bitcoin mining concentration, tokenized stock activity, and security developments involving Ostium.

Weekly trading volume across South Korea’s five largest digital asset exchanges fell to about KRW 8.06 trillion in the seven days from 2 p.m. on July 9 to 2 p.m. on July 16, according to a report by Korean media outlet Digital Asset cited by ChainCatcher. The figure marked another week-on-week decline and the lowest level in about three years and two months. The report said the combined weekly volume has been falling for several consecutive weeks. It moved from KRW 17.7 trillion in the June 5 to June 12 period to KRW 15.4 trillion, KRW 14.6 trillion, KRW 13.4 trillion, and KRW 9.97 trillion, before dropping again to KRW 8.06 trillion in the latest reading. That put the market below the KRW 8.44 trillion recorded from May 11 to May 18, 2023, making it the weakest weekly tally since then. Market-share rankings among the five exchanges did not change. Upbit remained the largest venue with 63.57%, though its share was down 0.63 percentage points from the previous week. Bithumb accounted for 29.18%, Coinone for 6.41%, while Korbit and Gopax held 0.76% and 0.07%, respectively.

South Korea’s stock selloff deepened on July 13, with KOSPI 200 futures falling more than 5% and triggering the market’s 18th sidecar halt of the year. At the time of the halt, the KOSPI stood at 7,162.21, down 4.20% from the previous session, while major chip names including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix posted sharp losses. The index has now retreated more than 20% from its intraday peak of 9,385 on June 19. As equities dropped, trading in crypto picked up. CoinGecko data showed that Upbit’s 24-hour volume surged to $4.12 billion, up 436% in a day. The top five assets by trading volume on the exchange were BTC, XRP, ETH, T and BLAST. The report said this kind of rotation by South Korean retail traders has appeared before during KOSPI selloffs. The article also pointed to a prior five-week slowdown in domestic crypto trading before the rebound. From July 3 to July 10, combined volume across Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax fell 25.75% week over week to 9.9676 trillion won, the first time since September 2023 that the total dropped below 10 trillion won.

Crypto markets saw a dense mix of policy, market structure, and on-chain developments over the past 24 hours. Michael Saylor and Blockstream co-founder Adam Back publicly pushed back against Bitcoin proposal BIP 110, arguing that the measure would undermine Bitcoin’s decentralization and neutrality. At the same time, Forbes released a list of 10 cryptocurrencies it considers worth investing in, including BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, SOL, TRX, HYPE, RAIN, LEO, and ZEC, using utility, store-of-value characteristics, seven-day performance, and 24-hour trading volume as screening criteria. On the regulatory side, Coinbase chief policy officer Faryar Shirzad said the CLARITY Act would place digital asset platforms under stronger oversight rather than weaken national security, responding to criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren. Separately, The Hill reported that U.S. Senate leaders are targeting the week of July 20 for floor consideration of the bill, though bipartisan disagreements remain. Market data also remained in focus. CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler said short-term Bitcoin holders still show stronger buy-side pressure than sell-side pressure, even as both cool slightly, while recent ETF inflows are still too small to confirm a reversal in institutional demand. Coinglass data showed $76.96 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with short liquidations outpacing longs. Other notable developments included new claims in the Qian Zhimin 60,000 BTC case, renewed accusations from ZachXBT over LAB token selling, and a rare full Bitcoin block mined by a single-chip Bitaxe ASIC machine.

South Korea's ruling People Power Party will hold a closed-door meeting on March 25 to discuss abolishing the virtual asset tax originally scheduled for January 2027, citing fairness and double taxation concerns, alongside stablecoin regulation.

South Korea has confirmed that crypto taxation will begin on January 1, 2027, with a 22% tax applied to annual virtual asset gains above 2.5 million won, potentially affecting 13.26 million investors.

A 2018 study by ICOrating.com reveals that 54% of cryptocurrency exchanges have at least one security vulnerability, including weak passwords, lack of 2FA, and poor domain security. Only 46% meet basic parameters. Coinbase scores 89/100, while Okcoin.cn ranks last with 15.

An ICOrating review of 100 crypto exchanges found that 54% had weak security in at least one key area, from password rules to domain protection. Coinbase led the ranking, while several well-known platforms scored poorly.