Binance phishs its own staff monthly, India censors BitChat code: Asia ExpressBinance has been phishing its own staff to get ahead of potential attacks. South Korean crypto volumes tank 89% — plus all of the week’s other crypto news from Asia.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been conducting simulated phishing attacks on its own employees monthly for the past four years as part of its internal cybersecurity efforts. According to Binance's chief security officer Jimmy Su, these “red team” exercises help identify vulnerabilities and improve security hygiene, with employees who repeatedly fail the tests subject to remediation training or termination. This proactive approach addresses the high incidence of social engineering attacks in the crypto sector, with AMLBot estimating that 65% of crypto security incidents in 2025 involved such tactics.

In India, the government’s cybercrime agency ordered GitHub to remove repository access for BitChat, a decentralized messaging app developed by Jack Dorsey, citing concerns that the app could be used to circumvent internet shutdowns and evade lawful surveillance. However, India’s Internet Freedom Foundation criticized this takedown as unconstitutional, warning it threatens free speech and undermines open-source software. BitChat gained popularity in countries facing unrest or internet outages. Separately, India's tax authority mandated crypto exchanges to report all transactions to the Income Tax department.

South Korea's cryptocurrency trading markets have faced a dramatic decline in volume, with the top five crypto exchanges experiencing an 89% drop year over year from July 2025 to July 2026. Combined average daily trading volume decreased to $305 million from $2.82 billion during this period, as retail investors shifted toward the country's booming stock market. Meanwhile, regulatory actions included removing 29 unlicensed crypto exchange apps from Google Play and developments such as the rebranding of the Korbit exchange and the launch of a blockchain-based cross-border payment service by KB Kookmin Bank.

Additional notable developments across Asia include Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing a criminal complaint against Bitkub and two former directors over alleged false disclosures linked to a 2021 $50 million cyberattack. In the Philippines, the Bank of the Philippine Islands is preparing to pilot a stablecoin-based cross-border payment system aimed at lowering costs and processing times for freelancers receiving foreign income. Meanwhile, Coinbase plans to expand its Singapore office workforce by 25% by the end of 2026, reflecting Singapore’s growing role as a cryptocurrency innovation hub. Lastly, Hong Kong’s HashKey Holdings consolidated two regional exchanges into a single platform to streamline user experience across multiple jurisdictions while ensuring regulatory compliance.