South Korea Weighs Forcing Exchanges to Hold 99% of Customer Crypto in Cold Wallets

South Korea is weighing a rule that would require crypto exchanges to keep 99% of customer assets in cold wallets, according to WatcherGuru. The outlet ties the proposal directly to what it describes as a $6.3 billion hack at Binance. If it sticks, Korean exchanges would have to shove nearly every customer coin offline.

Cold wallets sit disconnected from the internet, which makes them far harder to drain remotely. The catch is speed: coins parked offline can't be zipped out to users on demand. A 99% requirement leaves only a thin slice of assets available for instant withdrawals.

The trigger, per WatcherGuru, is the Binance hack carrying a $6.3 billion price tag. That number is the whole argument for the rule — a hit that size is exactly the nightmare cold storage is built to blunt. Binance hasn't been cited by the outlet as responding to the figure.

It's early. South Korea is only considering the requirement, not enforcing it, and WatcherGuru gave no timeline, no draft text and no word on which regulator would carry it. Korean exchanges would also face a messy operational lift if the 99% threshold becomes real.

For now, the signal matters more than the statute. A major crypto market floating near-total cold storage is a direct answer to the hack, and other jurisdictions tend to watch what Seoul does next.