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ChainCatcher reports, according to RootData market data, South Korea KOSPI Composite intraday: 5421.99 points, today's open: 5452.41 points, down 0.6%.

ChainCatcher reports, according to RootData market data, South Korea KOSPI Composite at the open: 5452.41 points, previous close: 5342.73 points, up 2.1%.

The U.S. Department of Justice stated on Thursday that North Korean hackers have stolen over $400 million in cryptocurrency assets through a social engineering scheme based on secretly recorded videos and AI deepfakes over the past 18 months, and announced that it has seized the infrastructure supporting this operation. The FBI refers to this method as "FaceStealer," which centers on turning video conference calls into traps: hackers lure targets into meetings using previously stolen accounts from victims, then play pre-recorded footage of trusted contacts to simulate their presence, thereby gaining the target's trust.The group also uses AI to generate deepfake videos of well-known figures in the cryptocurrency and related industries, making the scams more convincing. Once the target lowers their guard, the attackers create false technical issues, such as claiming the other party cannot hear them, and provide a so-called "fix" link that is actually used to implant malware. Afterward, hackers can empty the victim's wallet or exploit their system permissions, sometimes lying in wait for months or even over a year before taking action. The FBI stated that it has seized over 900 segments of camera footage from FaceStealer victims based on federal search warrants.The Department of Justice linked this operation to North Korean-related groups such as Sapphire Sleet, BlueNoroff, and APT38, warning that these hackers are increasingly targeting open-source software developers, seemingly paving the way for supply chain attacks. On the same day, the Department of Justice also reported progress in the Binance theft case, stating that it has obtained court authorization to seize or restrict over $1.2 billion of the approximately $6.4 billion in stolen assets, which is part of the over $2.7 billion that has already been frozen. The FBI attributes this theft to the North Korean group TraderTraitor and claims it is laundering money at a rate of creating a new wallet approximately every 25 seconds. North Korea denies involvement, stating that the FBI's conclusions are a political provocation.

According to Seoul Economic Daily on November 12, British artificial intelligence infrastructure company Nscale is advancing the construction of more than two artificial intelligence data centers in South Korea. The company established its Korean entity, Nscale Service KR, in July 2026, responsible for data center investment, development, operation, and management. Nscale was founded in 2024, independently procures graphics processing units, and operates artificial intelligence data centers, with a corporate value of approximately 35 billion USD, equivalent to about 47 trillion Korean Won, and is pushing for a listing in the United States.The project has been confirmed to be located in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. The original plan was to construct a phase one artificial intelligence data center with a scale of 300 megawatts as a consortium, but it has since changed to be built separately by Nscale and other participants. The data center for which Nscale is responsible is currently undergoing licensing and preparing to commence construction. The company is also evaluating the addition of data centers in other regions of South Korea, through methods including new site construction, renovation of existing facilities, and leasing data centers from other companies. An industry insider who requested anonymity stated that Nscale has previously renovated old data centers overseas and installed graphics processing server units to reduce capital burdens, and may propose similar collaborations to South Korean companies.Additionally, according to the report, the American cloud company CoreWeave is also advancing the construction of data centers in South Korea and appointed Kim Hyun-sik, who previously worked at Microsoft and SoftBank, as the head of its Korean subsidiary last year. The artificial intelligence data center being built by Amazon Web Services and SK Group in Ulsan is scheduled to begin operations next year, and Microsoft has recently started construction on its third data center in Busan. Goldman Sachs analysis indicates that after the Democratic Party's victories in U.S. state and local elections, about 45% of the planned capacity expansions for artificial intelligence data centers in the U.S. may be affected by regulations. CoreWeave stated in a conference call on November 11 that it is expanding its business in Canada, Europe, and Asia to diversify regional regulatory risks. The South Korean government is promoting differentiated electricity pricing by region and a dedicated electricity pricing plan for artificial intelligence data centers.

According to a report by IT Home on November 12, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the country's edge AI semiconductor technology development project roadmap on the same day. The total amount of the project is 800.2 billion Korean won, which is approximately 3.993 billion Chinese yuan based on the reported exchange rate. The goal is to complete the development and verification of 10 AI chips by 2030.The roadmap shows that among these 10 chips, 3 are aimed at smart home appliances, with 1 each for autonomous driving, collaborative robots, humanoid robots, agricultural robots, and drones, along with advanced processes and extreme scenario projects. Foundries such as Samsung Electronics will prioritize allocating resources for multi-purpose wafer testing and tape-out to domestic projects, while IP companies will reduce the IP usage costs for Korean chip designers through flexible methods. Chip customers will also participate in the R&D process.

The Financial Services Commission of South Korea plans to allow cryptocurrency exchanges to proactively suspend deposits and withdrawals under certain conditions when they are suspected of being attacked by hackers, and requires strengthening security monitoring.

Dunamu's Vice Chairman Kim Hyung-nyun stated at the Seoul Digital Asset Policy Conference that the stock tokens of South Korea's representative companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, can only be traded overseas. This situation is distressing. He also officially announced that Dunamu has completed the technical preparations for stock tokenization, and relevant services can be launched at any time once the regulatory system allows.In addition, the conference also discussed the legislative process of the "Basic Law on Digital Assets." South Korea's Democratic Party member Min Byung-deok advocated that the bill should be passed in the current regular National Assembly, no later than January 18 of next year. South Korea's People Power Party member Park Soo-min stated that legislation should not be rushed and called for a comprehensive allowance for institutions and legal entities to invest in crypto assets.

The draft of South Korea's "Basic Law on Digital Assets," expected to be announced this month, will propose that a bank-led consortium be responsible for issuing the Korean won stablecoin. However, even if banks are responsible for issuance, exchanges and third-party payment platforms may still take on the circulation link connecting consumers and merchants, making user entry points and application scenarios key to competition.It is reported that the business integration between Upbit's operator Dunamu and Naver Financial could become an important variable. If related services are approved for integration, Dunamu could generate revenue through stablecoin transactions, while Naver Financial is expected to collect fees through merchant payments and settlements. A representative from South Korea's financial regulatory authorities pointed out that if stablecoins are used for electronic payments, related businesses may need to comply with the "Electronic Financial Transactions Act," and clarify obligations regarding the protection of recharged funds and settlement funds, transaction information management, and dispute resolution.

ChainCatcher reports, according to RootData market data, South Korea KOSPI Composite intraday: 5358.93 points, today's open: 5385.94 points, down 0.5%.

ChainCatcher reports, according to RootData market data, South Korea KOSPI Composite at the open: 5385.94 points, previous close: 5375.36 points, up 0.2%.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Woo Ki-hyung, an official of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, stated after the conclusion of the tax subcommittee of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee that there is a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties on the postponement of the virtual asset income tax. The government proposed a two-year delay, and there is not much disagreement between the parties.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, on November 11, the South Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups released the "AI Startup Unicorn Cultivation Strategy" in Seoul, proposing to cultivate 20 AI unicorn companies valued at over 1 trillion Korean won and 1 AI decacorn company valued at over 10 trillion Korean won by 2030.The ministry will select 50 AI startups each year as candidates and provide over 10 billion Korean won in R&D and commercialization funding support for companies that enter the final stage of the project. South Korea will also build a comprehensive empirical system connecting AI semiconductors, cloud, and services, and expand the "Government First Verification and Procurement" project, which allows government and public institutions to be the first customers, into the AI field.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the Financial Security Institute (FSI), a financial security agency under the Financial Services Commission of South Korea, was hacked, resulting in the leakage of hundreds of pieces of information, including about 300 personal information records of employees from financial institutions.

According to Jinshi reports, in the third quarter of this year, the concentration of South Korean exports further deepened. Influenced by the prosperity of the semiconductor industry, the gap between large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises widened, with the top ten export companies in South Korea accounting for more than 60% of the total export value, marking the first time since records began in 2010.Data released by relevant departments on Tuesday showed that South Korea's total exports in the third quarter surged by 72.3% year-on-year, reaching 318.6 billion USD, setting a record high for a quarter since records began in 2015. The export value of large enterprises grew by 103.5%, with semiconductor manufacturers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix being the main drivers, while the export value of small and medium-sized enterprises only increased by 12.8% and 10.7%, respectively. During the same period, semiconductor exports skyrocketed by 219% year-on-year, reaching 148 billion USD, accounting for 46.5% of the total exports, up from 25.1% in the same period last year.

ChainCatcher reports, according to RootData market data, South Korea KOSPI Composite intraday: 5236.91 points, today's open: 5209.71 points, up 0.5%.

A South Korean trader @solyfw34 accused the cryptocurrency trading platform LBank of restricting account withdrawals and trading after he profited from contract trading, resulting in some positions being unable to be manually closed and ultimately being forcibly liquidated. Currently, approximately 1 million USDT remains inaccessible. The user stated that LBank did not provide specific evidence of abnormal trading.On November 10, LBank responded that it would not restrict accounts solely due to user profits, and that the relevant accounts were suspected of violating internal rules. The user's invested principal has been fully withdrawn, and the restricted funds have been identified as related to abnormal trading. LBank has hired a South Korean law firm and stated that it will take legal action against false and defamatory statements. On-chain investigator ZachXBT criticized LBank as an offshore low-quality centralized exchange and questioned several KOLs for using highly similar rhetoric to defend the platform.

ChainCatcher reports, according to RootData market data, South Korea KOSPI Composite at the open: 5209.71 points, previous close: 5239.13 points, down 0.6%.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Kim Hyung-nyeon, Vice Chairman of Dunamu, the operator of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, stated at the digital asset policy conference "DICON" held in Yeouido, Seoul, that South Korea's representative stocks, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, can only be tokenized and traded on overseas exchanges, "This matter itself is very painful."The report noted that as one of the co-founders of Dunamu, Kim Hyung-nyeon rarely speaks in public. He mentioned that there are many issues that need to be considered recently, and as long as the regulatory system is designed properly, Dunamu will do its best to become a global player representing South Korea. On the same day, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-sik stated in his opening speech that the digital asset industry is at a critical juncture where opportunities and challenges intertwine, and major countries have begun to view digital assets as important factors for financial innovation and national competitiveness.During the discussion, ruling party member Min Byung-deok stated that the postponement of virtual asset taxation has made all parties clearly recognize the necessity of the "Basic Law on Digital Assets," which must be passed in this regular National Assembly session, no later than January 18 of next year. He also advocated for allowing institutions and legal entities to invest in virtual assets comprehensively, arguing that according to the spirit of the South Korean Constitution, individuals and legal entities should not be treated differently.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Shin Eun-seop, the director of the Electronic Financial Inspection Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea, stated at a discussion held at the Financial Investment Education Institute in Yeouido, Seoul, that if stablecoins are used as a means of electronic payment, it is inevitable that the Electronic Financial Transactions Act will apply from the perspective of fairness with existing electronic payment methods, user protection, and payment settlement stability.