South Korean cryptocurrency exchange GOPAX took roughly a month to detect unauthorized access to customer accounts earlier this autumn. On Friday, the Binance-controlled platform shut down trading less than an hour after stopping routine withdrawals in response to an email from someone claiming to have hacked it, despite having no confirmed evidence of a new attack.
GOPAX said suspicious access began in early September but was discovered in early October, according to an October 18 report by Chosunbiz citing the exchange’s October 16 disclosure. Information belonging to seven customers and two current or former employees was exposed, including account nicknames and login histories.
The company said it blocked suspicious access, notified affected individuals, reported the incident to authorities, and commissioned an external investigation. It reported no unauthorized withdrawals or asset losses from that earlier breach.
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The exchange suspended digital-asset deposits and ordinary withdrawals at 2:55 p.m. Seoul time. Trading stopped at 3:53 p.m., with all unfilled orders canceled. Customers seeking withdrawals must contact support and undergo manual verification and approval.
GOPAX told Yonhap Infomax that it received a threatening email from people claiming to be hackers. The exchange said it had not established that an intrusion occurred, but was moving its cryptocurrency into offline cold wallets before verifying the threat. No restoration timetable was announced.
The shutdown also triggered warnings from Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Digital X about transfers to GOPAX, extending the practical disruption beyond its own trading screen.
The custody decisions come against a measurable gap between GOPAX and larger Korean competitors. Financial Supervisory Service figures reported for September 30 show Streami, GOPAX’s operator, kept 80.54% of customer cryptocurrency in cold wallets, just 0.54 percentage points above South Korea’s 80% minimum. Upbit held 99.17% offline, and Bithumb held 94.76%.
On November 2, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission urged exchanges to increase offline storage, monitor withdrawals continuously, and strengthen access controls after the October 29 Binance attack.
Binance said approximately US$6.34 billion in digital assets were affected, with about US$2.85 billion frozen or intercepted by its November 3 update.
The crypto giant owns roughly 67% of GOPAX. No evidence links the email to either the previous GOPAX data leak or the Binance theft.
GOPAX’s next operational milestone is not identifying an attacker, but restoring ordinary trading and withdrawals while demonstrating that customer assets remain secure. As of its latest reported update on Friday, no resumption date had been provided.
