South Korean cryptocurrency exchange GOPAX suspended digital-asset deposits and standard withdrawals at 2:55 p.m. local time (5:55 a.m. UTC) on November 6, halting trading at 3:53 p.m. and canceling all outstanding orders, according to crypto.news.

The trigger was an email threatening to compromise the exchange, though GOPAX told South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun that no actual attack or theft attempt had been detected when services stopped.

The exchange described the move as a preemptive measure to protect customer funds and said it reported no asset losses, while warning that no service-resumption timetable had been set.

The surprise is proportion: an unverified email — not a breach — was enough to freeze trading, deposits and withdrawals across an entire national exchange.

crypto.news reports the decision followed instructions from South Korea's Financial Services Commission, which recently urged domestic crypto platforms to strengthen security after the $6.3 billion Binance theft attributed to North Korean hackers.

Reuters reporting carried by Central Oregon Daily says the move aligned with regulator recommendations.

Under the temporary arrangements, customers cannot withdraw cryptocurrency directly through the GOPAX website or mobile application.

Instead, they must contact the support center and submit a separate withdrawal request, which the exchange processes manually and sequentially after internal verification and approval — meaning processing could take longer than usual.

TradingView notes the suspension came after GOPAX disclosed an information exposure affecting seven customers and two current or former employees on October 16, following abnormal account access detected in early October.

Authorities have not established whether the threatening email is connected to that earlier leak.

The freeze lands amid a wave of security failures across South Korean finance.

The Financial Services Commission reported 40 incidents at 37 companies between September 30 and November 3, involving roughly 473,000 personal-information records and about KRW1 billion (around US$745,000) in theft, mostly from company management accounts, per TradingView.

Bithumb's intrusion prompted an FSC emergency meeting, and the regulator is inspecting about 580 financial companies. crypto.news adds that Prabang, another Korean exchange, lost about 100 million won (~$70,000) to unusual hot-wallet withdrawals on October 24.

Under South Korea's Virtual Asset User Protection Act, exchanges must hold at least 80% of customer crypto value in cold storage.

crypto.news reports GOPAX held 80.54% offline at the end of September — barely above the minimum, versus Upbit at 99.17%, Bithumb at 94.76% and Coinone at 85% — and authorities are weighing raising the requirement to as much as 99%.

GOPAX has not announced when trading, deposits or withdrawals will resume, with the exchange telling customers the measure aims to prevent financial incidents and protect user assets while it reviews potential security risks.