Flow drags South Korea’s ‘Big Three’ crypto exchanges to court over trading halt

Flow Foundation and Dapper Labs have filed an emergency injunction with the Seoul Central District Court on Monday, in an attempt to block South Korea’s three largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone, from delisting the FLOW token from their respective platforms on March 16. 

The legal action is the latest development in a series of events that have unfolded since a multi-episode dispute between the platform and major exchanges, including HTX and Binance, due to a December security incident that wiped over 75% from the token’s value.

The Foundation is basing part of its argument on the fact that other major global exchanges that reviewed the incident have since restored full FLOW services.

According to Flow, South Korea’s domestic platforms are pressing ahead with delisting the token even when a thorough review has not been completed, given the weight of new evidence. So, it is asking the court to suspend the delisting pending the completion of that review.

The court is expected to review the application today, March 9, 2026, and determine next steps.

Flow’s token has responded with an almost 20% surge close to $0.05 in the last 24 hours at the time of writing. Despite the recent surge, the token continues to trade at less than a third of its price at the time of its December 27 security incident.

Why are South Korean exchanges planning to delist FLOW?

The crisis began on December 27 after an attacker moved around $3.9 million by exploiting a flaw on the platform before validators coordinated a halt. =nnoiikj

Flow stated that no user funds were lost during the exploit; however, it paused all deposits and withdrawals during that period. By January 30, it announced that all counterfeit tokens created during the incident had been completely destroyed.

Flow validators reverted the blockchain to a point before the exploit as it worked to contain the breach. However, that move, in addition to paused transactions, rattled bridge operators and prompted exchanges across the industry to review its token.                                                                          n

In Korea, Upbit and other exchanges, acting in coordination under the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), the industry’s self-regulatory body, applied a trading caution designation to FLOW on December 29.

By February, having judged the Foundation’s explanatory materials insufficient, the three exchanges announced they would terminate FLOW trading support on March 16, with withdrawals open until April 16.

Korbit, the fourth major domestic exchange and also a DAXA member,                                                                                                         took a different approach after conducting its own independent review. The exchange lifted its trading caution on February 27 and continues to support FLOW with no restrictions.

Why does Flow believe global evidence should change the outcome?

Flow’s legal filing relies heavily on a divergence between the Korean exchanges’ position and the conclusions reached elsewhere.

On March 6, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, published a joint resolution statement with Flow Foundation confirming that all issues related to the security incident had been resolved, deposits and withdrawals fully restored, and the monitoring tag it had applied in January removed.

On the same day, HTX independently confirmed that all FLOW assets held by users on its platform had been verified and remained intact, withdrawing its own January notice entirely.

From Coinbase, Gate, and Kraken in January, to Binance, HTX, and Korbit more recently, the Foundation states that the outcome of every independent review has been the same, which is full restoration.

So far, no government regulator in any jurisdiction has taken action against FLOW, and no Korean exchange, the Foundation notes, suffered direct financial damage from the December incident.

The Seoul Central District Court has twice ruled against blockchain projects seeking to reverse DAXA-backed delistings.

In December 2022, the court dismissed an injunction filed by South Korean game developer Wemade, ruling that DAXA’s decision to delist its WEMIX token.

A second WEMIX challenge, following a separate security breach, was dismissed again in May 2025.

The Flow Foundation also mentioned its commitment to the Asian market, announcing that it is seeking more exchange listings in the region, expanding self-custody guidance for affected users, and exploring a closer partnership with Korbit as an anchor venue in Korea.

It has also announced plans to hire a dedicated General Manager for Asia-Pacific, signaling a long-term commitment to the region that the legal filing is designed to reinforce. “Flow is not leaving Korea,” the Foundation said in its update on Monday.