09/03/26

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Flow Foundation, a nonprofit organization overseeing the development of the Flow blockchain, alongside its parent company Dapper Labs, has formally petitioned the Seoul Central District Court to prevent the discontinuation of trading support for its native token, FLOW, on three South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges. This legal move comes amid ongoing disputes following a security incident that occurred in December, which severely impacted confidence in the token.

The security breach involved a vulnerability that allowed malicious actors to duplicate tokens without generating or controlling the original assets. Although no user funds were directly compromised, approximately $3.9 million worth of tokens were artificially created through this exploit. All counterfeit tokens were subsequently destroyed, and no confirmed losses to individual accounts were reported. However, the incident prompted several local exchanges — namely Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone — to suspend FLOW trading support, citing concerns over the token’s integrity and the potential negative influence on their platforms’ perceived security.

Despite the suspension in South Korea, the Flow Foundation asserts that the impact has been mitigated through independent reviews conducted by global exchanges, which have restored full trading support for FLOW. These include major platforms such as Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Binance, and Bybit. Korbit, a South Korean exchange, continues to support FLOW trading locally. The Seoul court is scheduled to review the Foundation’s application on March 9, with the next steps likely to hinge on the court’s assessment of the security incident’s resolution and current market conditions.

Market data reflects the severe toll on the token’s value. Since reaching an all-time high of $42 in 2021, FLOW’s price has plummeted by over 99.9%, currently trading at around $0.043. The decline reflects broader downturns in the ecosystem, with total value locked decreasing by approximately 82% from its peak and the NFT market experiencing a contraction of over 92%.

The Flow platform was launched in 2019 by Dapper Labs to address scalability issues within blockchain environments tailored for Web3 gaming and digital collectibles. Despite setbacks, the ecosystem continues to attract high-profile partners such as Disney, NBA, NFL, and Ticketmaster, which remain actively engaged in building on the network. Nevertheless, the token’s sharp decline underscores the significant challenges facing blockchain projects in maintaining investor confidence and platform viability after security breaches and market downturns.