According to ChainCatcher news, as reported by SBS, by the end of February 2025, the total number of users on South Korea's virtual asset trading platforms reached 16.29 million, accounting for about 32% of the national population, surpassing the number of stock investors (14.1 million).It is worth noting that this data is based on the total number of account holders from South Korea's five major trading platforms—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. If the same person opens accounts on multiple exchanges, they will be counted multiple times.

ChainCatcher news, according to a research report by local Korean agencies DeSpread and CoinNess on 3,108 Korean crypto investors, after the cryptocurrency market heats up in 2024, new investors entering the Korean cryptocurrency market account for about 33%. Among them, investors who have been investing for less than six months are mainly influenced by the news of Trump's election, while those who have been investing for six months to a year are primarily attracted by the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs.Although Korean investors are not familiar with DEX, the investment proportion in meme coins has already exceeded half. This is largely attributed to CEX actively listing such coins. As of February 2025, Bithumb has listed 16 types of meme coins, including DOGE, TRUMP, PENGU, etc., which is more active than Upbit's 6 types.About 75% of domestic crypto asset investors in Korea hold an optimistic view on Bitcoin prices in 2025, generally expecting it to surpass 150 million won (approximately 102,000 USD).

ChainCatcher news, the Seoul Administrative Court in South Korea has temporarily suspended the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)'s "three-month partial business suspension" penalty against Dunamu, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit. The court has approved Dunamu's administrative lawsuit and emergency suspension application, and the penalty will only be reinstated 30 days after the main case judgment takes effect. This move means that new users of Upbit can continue to recharge and withdraw cryptocurrency assets.Previously, the FIU accused Upbit of trading with unregistered overseas exchanges without real-name verification, violating the "Special Financial Transactions Information Act."

ChainCatcher news, according to South Korea's "Cultural Daily," the report on the property changes of public officials released by the Korean government's Ethics Committee for Public Servants shows that among 2,047 declarants, 411 (20.1%) hold virtual assets, totaling 14.4 billion won (approximately 9.82 million USD), with an average of about 35.07 million won per person.Among them, Seoul city councilor Kim Hye-young tops the list with a declaration amount of 1.7 billion won, holding 16 types of cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, DOGE, and XRP.

ChainCatcher news, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea announced that starting from March 25, it will implement domestic access restrictions on the Google Play platform applications of 17 overseas virtual asset service providers (VASP) that are not registered in South Korea, including KuCoin, MEXC, etc. This means that users will not be able to install the relevant applications anew, and existing users will also be unable to update.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Korea Daily News, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT announced plans to raise a metaverse fund of approximately 40 billion won this year for investment management companies. This year's fund will include 23 billion won from the government (reinvested fund recovery) and 17 billion won from private contributions, with a minimum scale of 40 billion won. The selected management companies will focus on investing in small and medium-sized enterprises related to key foundational technologies such as XR, AI, digital twins, and blockchain that realize metaverse products and services, with an investment ratio exceeding 60%.In addition, to promote the AI integration of promising metaverse enterprises, the selected management companies must also invest more than 50% in AI integration or overseas companies to continuously support active overseas expansion and exports.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, South Korean financial authorities are planning to impose sanctions on cryptocurrency exchanges such as BitMEX, KuCoin, CoinW, Bitunix, and KCEX, which provide services in Korean but are not registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).The FIU stated that the aforementioned exchanges have not registered as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) as required, and are therefore considered to be operating illegally.Relevant officials said they are negotiating with the Korea Communications Standards Commission to review plans to block access to these unregistered overseas exchanges, with specific measures expected to be announced within the year.

ChainCatcher news, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of South Korea has taken enforcement action against overseas cryptocurrency exchanges that provide services to Korean users without registration, based on the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. It is reported that the FIU is considering blocking website access as a primary enforcement measure, targeting exchanges including BitMEX, KuCoin, CoinW, Bitunix, and KCEX.

ChainCatcher news, according to official news, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has added Pax Gold (PAXG), supporting KRW trading pairs.

ChainCatcher news, according to South Korean media reports, the South Korean prosecution has launched a forced search against the cryptocurrency trading platform Bithumb, which is suspected of providing company funds to purchase an apartment for its former representative director.The Southern District Prosecutors' Office of Seoul conducted a seizure search today at Bithumb's headquarters located in the Yaksu-dong area of Seoul. It is reported that Bithumb provided a rental deposit of 3 billion won for an apartment in Seongdong-gu to its former representative director and current advisor Kim Dae-sik, part of which is suspected to have been used by Advisor Kim for personal apartment purchases.The Financial Supervisory Service has initiated an investigation into the related allegations and has recently transferred the case to the prosecution.

ChainCatcher news, the South Korean prosecution has requested the court to sentence a man to 10 years in prison for stabbing the CEO of the South Korean cryptocurrency custody company HaruInvest during a court hearing in August 2024. The Southern District Prosecutor's Office in Seoul confirmed to The Block that they made the sentencing request during the final hearing of the court attack case on Wednesday, considering the severity of the crime.The attacker, identified as Mr. Kang (phonetic), 51, repeatedly stabbed Haru Invest CEO Lee Hyung-soo in the neck with a fruit knife. Lee Hyung-soo was quickly taken to the hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening.This incident occurred while Lee Hyung-soo was appearing in court due to multiple fraud-related charges. According to the prosecution, from March 2020 to June 2023, Haru Invest attracted about 16,000 domestic and foreign investors by promising to return the principal and pay interest of up to 16%, despite the company being in a state of capital impairment since 2019. On June 13, 2023, Haru Invest suddenly suspended deposits and withdrawals and announced bankruptcy last November.

According to ChainCatcher news, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea has requested that cryptocurrency exchanges pay a total of 7.9 billion won (approximately 5.54 million USD) in annual regulatory fees. This fee is set at 0.6%, higher than the initially expected 0.4%. These fees must be paid quarterly by the end of March, May, July, and October each year. The fee distribution is as follows, except for Korbit (whose operating revenue is below 3 billion won, approximately 2.08 million USD):Upbit operator Dunamu will pay 6.7 billion won (approximately 4.64 million USD);Bithumb will pay 900 million won (approximately 624,000 USD);Coinone will pay 150 million won (approximately 104,000 USD);Gopax will pay about 21.35 million won (approximately 14,800 USD).The total fees for the four major exchanges amount to approximately 7.9 billion won (around 5.54 million USD).

According to ChainCatcher, citing Yonhap News, the latest investigation by the Korean Audit and Inspection Agency (BAI) shows that a public servant in Cheongju, South Korea, embezzled 497 million won (approximately 342,000 USD) of public funds for personal cryptocurrency investments and debt repayment. The official forged documents and misused the mayor's seal to open bank accounts, transferring funds to personal accounts. The embezzled funds included disaster relief donations urgently needed after the flood in July last year.The public servant, referred to as "Mr. A," was sentenced to 5 years in prison last December, and the case is currently under review by the high court. The investigation revealed that his embezzlement activities lasted nearly 6 years (from November 2018 to May 2023). The audit report pointed out that the official was able to forge project expenditures and approve electronic transactions without proper oversight. The Cheongju City Hall has been requested to dismiss the official and take disciplinary action against other related personnel.

According to ChainCatcher, The Block reported that South Korea's financial regulatory agency announced on Wednesday plans to release comprehensive guidelines for institutional cryptocurrency investment in the third quarter. The Financial Services Commission made this announcement during a meeting with local cryptocurrency industry experts. While the investment guidelines for listed companies and professional investors are expected to be issued in the third quarter, the Financial Services Commission stated that its goal is to launch investment guidelines for non-profit organizations and cryptocurrency exchanges in April.The Financial Services Commission first announced in January that it would gradually lift the de facto ban on institutional investors investing in cryptocurrencies. Last month, the regulator revealed that it intends to first allow charities and universities to sell their cryptocurrency assets in the second quarter. The upcoming detailed guidelines further solidify South Korea's shift in stance towards cryptocurrencies, no longer strictly opposing the entry of crypto assets into traditional financial markets.Meanwhile, the Financial Services Commission has also begun developing a second set of rules for a two-part cryptocurrency regulatory framework, with the first set of rules launched last year. The second part of the cryptocurrency law will focus on stablecoins and regulating cryptocurrency business owners.

ChainCatcher news, the first batch of 3,000 "XR7 AI Dual Gateway" units delivered by EdgeX Labs to the South Korean market is officially online and in use. This marks the formal integration of edge computing resources into the EdgeX Labs distributed infrastructure network in the South Korean market, which will provide more stable, efficient, and low-cost computing support for EdgeX Labs AI accelerators.The "XR7 AI Dual Gateway" is an edge computing network endpoint device from EdgeX Labs. It effectively provides basic computing services for AI Agents, distributed memory storage, and broadband resources, and is equipped with the unique EdgeX OS operating system. It not only offers efficient and secure edge-side AI computing capabilities but also ensures network security and stability.In addition, the intelligent central scheduling system built by EdgeX Labs can reasonably and efficiently allocate AI Agent tasks, enhancing the concurrent processing capabilities of Agents, significantly reducing business latency, and strengthening real-time performance to meet the needs of various AI Agent application developments and complex task innovations.

ChainCatcher news, South Korean financial regulators stated that they will continue to take market stabilization measures.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, television footage shows South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol walking out of the Seoul detention center.Yoon Suk-yeol's lawyer stated that there are procedural and substantive issues regarding Yoon Suk-yeol's detention. His release marks the beginning of the restoration of the rule of law.

ChainCatcher news, according to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean financial authorities will accelerate the drafting process of the second phase of the virtual asset bill, which will involve issues such as corporate regulation and token circulation disclosure.Chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) Kim Byung-hwan stated at a parliamentary meeting that with recent actions by the Trump administration in the United States, the global cryptocurrency regulatory landscape is expected to change rapidly. He emphasized that South Korea needs to keep pace with these global developments.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, South Korean media outlet "Daily Kyungjae" reported that South Korean regulators are closely monitoring developments in Japan before making a decision on cryptocurrency spot ETFs. This means that if Japanese regulators approve a Bitcoin ETF application, South Korean regulators may also follow suit.The Japanese Financial Services Commission (FSC) has been discussing the approval of Bitcoin ETFs since the end of last year. However, the agency has repeatedly shown a lukewarm attitude towards cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin ETFs. As a result, South Korean financial authorities "have also begun to react." According to the media report, another top regulatory body in South Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service, has reviewed the cryptocurrency policies of Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) and "shared its findings with relevant organizations in Seoul."Major Japanese media outlets, including the Nikkei, reported that the Financial Services Agency is considering reclassifying cryptocurrencies as investment tools and is also "considering" approving Bitcoin and altcoin ETFs. South Korean regulators believe that the silence of the Financial Services Agency on this matter adds credibility to the reports from the Nikkei.