[PiCK] 'Martial Law Shock' Coin Outage Incident… Financial Authorities Begin Inspection

'Compensation for Damages' User Complaints Filed

Financial Authorities "Preparing Measures to Prevent Recurrence"

On the 3rd, following the declaration of martial law, the financial authorities began an inspection related to the 'outage incident' of virtual asset exchanges. They plan to verify whether each exchange is appropriately compensating users for damages caused by access failures. To prevent recurrence, they also intend to examine the regulatory gaps related to app outages of virtual asset exchanges.

According to the financial sector on the 5th, during the 'martial law shock' on the 3rd, cryptocurrency prices plummeted, and some exchanges experienced user access blockages. As Bitcoin plummeted from 130 million won to 88 million won, a drop of over 30% in 30 minutes, investors rushed to access the apps. This led to a system paralysis at exchanges, delaying app access to Upbit and Bithumb by 1-2 hours.

The exchanges responded urgently, restoring smooth access, and coin prices returned to their original levels. However, some investors expressed strong dissatisfaction by filing complaints with the Financial Supervisory Service regarding the app outages. They claimed that the exchanges' negligence in server management caused them to miss investment opportunities. A financial sector official stated, "If cryptocurrency prices had not risen again, the damages from failed sales would have snowballed."

The financial authorities believe that similar incidents can occur anytime since coin trading transcends borders. Coin prices could fluctuate again. A financial authority official said, "We are examining whether each exchange is appropriately responding to user complaints related to this incident," and "We plan to recommend that exchanges prepare measures to prevent recurrence."

The authorities also plan to inspect the 'regulatory deficiencies' highlighted by the virtual asset exchange outage incident. In general financial companies like banks and securities firms, app outages are subject to regulations under the Electronic Financial Supervisory Regulations. Failure to notify the financial authorities of such incidents results in fines. However, there are no related regulations for virtual asset trading.

A financial authority official emphasized, "We plan to first encourage each exchange to expand system capacity to match the 24-hour trading characteristics."

Reporter Choi Han-jong onebell@hankyung.com