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According to The Block, citing South Korean media Digital Asset, South Korean cryptocurrency influencer "Coin King" Jonbur Kim (original surname Park) was acquitted of fraud charges by the Southern District Court of Seoul. The case involved allegations of cryptocurrency fraud amounting to approximately 340 billion won (about 253 million USD).The court stated on Thursday that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to prove the relevant crimes. Jonbur Kim had previously been accused of participating in fraudulent issuance, listing, false disclosures, and price manipulation, with the tokens involved primarily including Podo Coin and Artube.

According to official disclosures from JPYC, the cumulative issuance of its issuance and redemption service JPYC EX surpassed 10 billion yen as of September 18, with users expanding from individuals to local Japanese businesses and overseas projects.On September 17, JPYC was listed on the South Korean exchange Upbit, trading against the Korean won, BTC, and USDT markets, but the market price temporarily deviated from 1 yen after the listing. In addition, Netstars signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Kaia DLT Foundation to integrate the stablecoins circulating on Kaia into its payment networks such as StarPay, which has approximately 700,000 affiliated stores; the Osaka physical store of Mi&T received a subsidy from the Osaka Prefecture for its JPYC payment pilot, planning to implement it in about 5 stores from November 2026 to March 2027.

According to Gate market data, the Nikkei 225 index closed down 3318.34 points on October 15, with a decline of 4.90%, reporting at 64425.95 points. The South Korean KOSPI index also closed down 454.54 points on the same day, with a decline of 7.56%, reporting at 5554.27 points.During the trading session, the South Korean stock market once fell more than 9%, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism for the tenth time this year. The South Korean financial regulatory agency held an emergency meeting in the afternoon regarding the stock market, and subsequently, the market's decline narrowed. SK Hynix initially closed down 11.06%, while Samsung Electronics fell 9.48%.

According to official news, the South Korean financial regulatory agency issued a statement that it will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the stock market. (Jinshi)

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea stated that after investigating 16 companies (including cryptocurrency exchanges) involved in a previous security incident, it plans to implement stricter cybersecurity requirements for financial institutions. The agency noted that in an industry review covering 555 financial companies, 130 companies were found to have cybersecurity deficiencies, with approximately 100,000 pieces of customer information leaked, including names, contact details, and identification numbers.Affected companies include Streami, the operator of Gopax, and the cryptocurrency trading platform Prabang, which previously disclosed that a hacking incident on October 2 led to the leakage of some customers' personal information. The FSC indicated that it is still investigating whether these incidents involved the use of artificial intelligence or if they are related to the same group of attackers.According to the proposed reforms, larger financial institutions will undergo vulnerability assessments at least twice a year. The regulatory agency also plans to improve the information-sharing system and is considering using artificial intelligence for security monitoring of small businesses. Additionally, the FSC is considering allowing supplementary cybersecurity inspections outside of the regular assessment schedule in the event of an urgent threat to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index plummeted 8.00% during the day, currently reported at 5527.29 points. SK Hynix fell over 11%, and Samsung Electronics dropped over 9%.At the same time, the Korea Exchange activated the circuit breaker mechanism for the KOSDAQ, suspending trading for 20 minutes.

According to Gate market data, the South Korean KOSPI index fell by 7%. SK Hynix dropped by 10%, and Samsung Electronics fell by nearly 8%.

According to a report by Daum, while global exchanges are expanding into perpetual contracts, options, and traditional stocks, South Korean local exchanges are still limited to spot trading due to regulatory restrictions. Data from CoinGecko shows that in the second quarter of 2026, the total spot trading volume of the five major Korean won exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, DigitalX (formerly Korbit), and GOPAX—was approximately $14.67 billion, a decrease of 33.0% from $21.88 billion in the first quarter.Coinbase completed its integration with the derivatives exchange Deribit this month and plans to launch a unified platform covering spot, derivatives, and stocks; Binance is expanding into precious metals, stocks, and index-related perpetual contracts. Current regulations in South Korea prohibit local institutions from engaging in cryptocurrency derivatives business, and the upcoming virtual asset tax law only covers spot gains, with a lack of clear taxation mechanisms for overseas derivatives gains. The industry is concerned about the loss of competitiveness for local exchanges and tax inequities. South Korean financial regulatory authorities have yet to propose a specific timeline for the introduction of cryptocurrency derivatives trading.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, the Commissioner of the National Tax Service of Korea, Lim Kwang-hyun, stated during a National Assembly Finance, Economy, and Planning Committee inspection that the National Tax Service is preparing to announce taxation standards for virtual assets in November.Lim Kwang-hyun pointed out that the taxation standards for transaction types such as airdrops, hard forks, staking, and decentralized finance (DeFi) focus more on the economic substance rather than the form of the transaction, with whether it is a transfer or a loan being the key determining factor. If airdrops and hard forks have the nature of a transfer or loan, they should be considered taxable objects, while some details regarding staking still need to be discussed with the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

According to South Korean media Sedaily, South Korea plans to start taxing cryptocurrency in January next year, but there are still several loopholes in the tax infrastructure. The head of the National Tax Service, Lim Kwang-hyun, stated during a parliamentary audit that preparations are being made for the smooth implementation of the tax, but activities such as transfers between private wallets and trading on overseas platforms are still difficult to track comprehensively.Even with the introduction of the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), it is challenging to cover all transactions. It is reported that the Bank of Korea also exposed related regulatory blind spots during a previous parliamentary audit.

On October 13, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of two Americans in an operation targeting North Korean IT personnel who entered U.S. companies under false identities, and the seizure of approximately 187 computer devices. Michael James Bostelle from Pennsylvania and Juan Cecilio Pena Carrillo from Texas were arrested based on an indictment from the Northern District of Ohio Federal Court. Prosecutors allege that the scheme involved over 70 U.S. employers, generating approximately $3 million in revenue for overseas IT personnel. The two are charged with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit identity theft, with Pena additionally charged with aggravated identity theft.The device seizure operation is part of "Operation Lone Star," coordinated by federal law enforcement in the Northern District of Texas. From September 21 to 25, the FBI executed searches at over 40 suspected "laptop farm" residences in Texas, seizing devices including laptops and keyboards, video, and mouse equipment for remote access. According to the Ohio indictment, domestic accomplices received laptops issued by employers at home and then allowed overseas personnel to control them via remote access software or hardware, making it appear as if they were located in the U.S. and accessing company systems, while the accomplices received salaries and transferred funds overseas.The indictment mentions cryptocurrency as one of the means for transferring funds overseas. Trey Michael Nolte, a resident of Ohio, is listed as a co-conspirator but has not been charged in this case; the indictment states that in a conversation on July 8, 2024, he described managing transfers between bank accounts and virtual currencies using spreadsheets, subsequently transferring funds to the defendant Sun Sheng Ming;

Avalanche announced on October 13 that the Korean Securities Depository (KSD) is "building infrastructure connections based on Avalanche" for the Korean securities tokenization market. KSD's technical guidelines confirm that Avalanche is one of several ledger technologies supported by its platform plan; Avalanche's post states that the plan covers issuance, trading, clearing, settlement, and investor rights, ultimately achieving on-chain settlement.KSD's distributed ledger guidelines (reflecting development as of July 2026) place Avalanche alongside Hyperledger Besu and Hyperledger Fabric, committing to support multiple ledger technologies rather than positioning Avalanche as the sole option for Korean securities infrastructure. The project has transitioned from a testing ground to the construction phase of a production platform, with Samsung SDS winning the bid to build it, aiming to convert the technology testing platform into a system that supports real transactions and stable operations, with a target completion date of February 2027.The roadmap released by the Korean Financial Services Commission in September shows that the revised terms for recognizing tokenized securities will take effect on February 4, 2027, with the first phase launching in the same month, initially covering private money market funds and bonds aimed at institutional investors, non-listed stocks held through trust structures, and publicly issued fractional investment securities. The second phase will expand to all publicly issued securities. On-chain payments related to stablecoins belong to the final phase, and the commission remains flexible on the timing for the second and third phases, setting November 11 as the deadline for public consultation on the implementation regulations.

Jeonbuk Bank is reportedly the first commercial bank in South Korea to start issuing Korean won loans secured by Bitcoin, according to local media. The Bitcoin is held by a third-party custodian; the effective changes to the execution rules allow the bank to sell the collateral through a court ruling for recovery without actually receiving the Bitcoin.The loan scale, interest rate, and loan-to-value ratio have not been disclosed. A representative from Jeonbuk Bank told Chosun that one loan has already been issued.

According to The Block, KB Kookmin Card has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's SBI Holdings to test AI agent-based identity verification and explore cross-border cryptocurrency payments.The two parties will study ways for Japanese tourists to pay Korean merchants using cryptocurrency assets, including stablecoins. KB Kookmin Card is a credit card company under KB Financial Group, and SBI Holdings is a Japanese financial holding group.

According to South Korean media etoday, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission of South Korea stated that the Korea Communications Commission has decided to implement domestic access blocking or termination measures against 27 virtual asset operators' websites, including KuCoin, MEXC, BingX, Phemex, XT.com, Bitrue, CoinW, Poloniex, BTCC, and BitMart, which have not reported in accordance with the law.This initiative expands the scope of restrictions on unreported operators from mobile application markets to internet web pages.

Tom Lee, Chairman of the Ethereum treasury company BitMine, stated that the significant decline in the South Korean stock market may be transmitting to the cryptocurrency market.He mentioned the forced liquidation of margins on the brokerage side and pointed out that South Korean investors are an important holding group for crypto assets. He described this impact as short-term pain.

According to Gate quotes, the South Korean KOSPI index has widened its decline to 5%. SK Hynix fell over 7%, and Samsung Electronics dropped nearly 6%.