Upbit, Bithumb & Coincheck Support: Why These Exchanges Probably Aren’t an Option for You (2026)

Bottom line up front

If you searched for “Upbit support,” “Bithumb customer service,” or “Coincheck contact number” because you’re trying to sign up from the UK, the US, or almost anywhere outside Korea or Japan — stop and read this first. All three of these exchanges are effectively closed to new non-resident sign-ups. Upbit Korea requires Korean-registered ID and a Korean bank account. Bithumb stopped accepting new overseas registrations back in August 2021. Coincheck restricts registration to Japan residents only, full stop.

This page exists for two reasons. First, to save you the time of hunting for a support ticket form on a platform you were never going to be able to join. Second, and more importantly, to warn you about the scams that specifically target people in exactly this situation — searching for “customer support” on an exchange that’s locked them out, and landing on a fake phone number, a lookalike domain, or a defunct rebrand instead of the real thing.

Last updated / verified: August 2026.

Quick comparison

Upbit: Korea-only, and “Upbit Global” is a genuine question mark

Upbit Korea (upbit.com, the KRW market) is not usable by non-Korean residents who want to sign up today. New accounts require a Korean mobile number registered under the account holder’s real name, an Alien Registration Card if you’re a foreign resident already living in Korea, and a real-name-verified K-Bank account — and K-Bank generally blocks foreign nationals from linking accounts to crypto exchanges in the first place. The route that used to let foreigners verify with just a passport has been closed as Korean exchanges tightened their AML/KYC rules.

That’s not the whole story, though. Upbit’s parent company, Dunamu, also operates a separate and legally distinct set of regional entities under the “Upbit Global” umbrella: Upbit Singapore (regulated by MAS, launched October 2018), Upbit Indonesia (January 2019), and Upbit Thailand (January 2021). The Upbit (Global) app’s own App Store listing shows supported languages as English, Indonesian, and Thai — notably, no Korean, which suggests it’s genuinely built for a different audience than the domestic KRW exchange.

Here’s the honest answer, though: whether a UK, US, or EU resident can actually open an account on Upbit Global was not confirmed in our research. We’re not going to guess. If you’re considering it, you’ll need to check registration eligibility directly on their platform — treat it as an open question, not a green light.

There is an English-language help center at support.upbit.com/hc/en-us with a “Submit a Request” ticket system, but it’s unclear from the outside whether that help center serves Upbit Korea, Upbit Global, or both — another point of ambiguity worth knowing about before you rely on it.

Verified contact points: the official X account @upbitglobal represents Upbit Singapore/Global, and a separate account, @Official_Upbit, represents the Korea entity. We also found upbit_sg@upbit.com, but that’s Upbit Singapore’s channel for verifying suspicious contacts and listing inquiries — it is not a general customer support inbox, and treating it as one will likely get you nowhere.

Scam watch for Upbit: we found no verified public phone number for Upbit anywhere. What we did find were scams built specifically around that gap. Fake “Upbit customer support number” listings show up on Yelp under business names like “UPBIT WALLET SUPPORT NUMBER.” There’s a lookalike domain, support-upbit.com (note the hyphen — the real help center is support.upbit.com, no hyphen), self-labeled as an “Official Upbit Token Listing Application Form.” And a phishing page hosted on Google Sites has impersonated the Upbit login page. Upbit itself, via @upbitglobal, has issued a direct warning: “We have been alerted to scams impersonating Upbit. Please be aware that Upbit will never ask you to transfer digital assets or money. Make sure you are using Upbit’s official website or mobile app.” Upbit has separately warned about scammers impersonating current or former employees to demand large “market support” or listing fees — another angle worth knowing if anyone contacts you claiming to speak for Upbit.

Bithumb: closed to new overseas sign-ups, and the BitGlobal trap

Bithumb (bithumb.com / en.bithumb.com) stopped accepting new registrations from overseas users on 13 August 2021. It also blocked new sign-ups from foreign nationals residing in Korea who don’t hold an Alien Registration Card. The stated reason was compliance with Korea’s revised anti-money-laundering law, and we found no evidence this policy has reversed as of 2026.

If you already had a Bithumb account from before that cutoff, there is at least a defined process for you: Bithumb’s English-language site has a help article titled “Asset Return Guide for Foreigner Members,” which points to a way for legacy foreign users to withdraw their funds. We haven’t independently verified the exact steps in that article, so treat it as a starting point — read it yourself on Bithumb’s official site rather than relying on a secondhand summary of the process.

Now, the finding worth paying the most attention to. A separate platform called “Bithumb Global” used to operate as an international sister exchange to Bithumb. In 2021, it was rebranded as “BitGlobal.” By 2024-2025, multiple sources widely reported BitGlobal as effectively defunct or exit-scam-adjacent — users have reported frozen withdrawals and unreachable support. Its own support domain, support.bithumb.pro, doesn’t resolve at all anymore.

This matters because the brand confusion is real and current: if you search for “Bithumb support” today, it is entirely plausible you’ll land on a dead or scam-adjacent BitGlobal / bithumb.pro property and assume it’s the same company as the real Bithumb. It isn’t — and isn’t operated by the same team. If you ever end up on anything branded “BitGlobal” or living at a bithumb.pro-style domain, treat it as unrelated to bithumb.com and proceed with extreme caution, if at all.

On contact details: we found no verified public phone number or email address on Bithumb’s own site. An email, info@bithumbcorp.com, appears on third-party aggregator sites, but we could not confirm it on bithumb.com itself — so don’t treat it as confirmed official contact information.

Scam watch for Bithumb: Bithumb has published a “Voice Phishing Complete Guide” and ran an anti-phishing campaign, reported in May 2026, warning specifically about AI and deepfake-voice scams that impersonate Bithumb customer-support agents or bank staff. The pattern: callers pressure victims to install remote-access apps, reveal account information, or move funds — sometimes backed by fake “login from overseas IP” security-check alerts designed to create urgency. If you get a call “from Bithumb” telling you your account is compromised and you need to act immediately, that urgency is the tell.

Coincheck: hard region-lock to Japan, and a Nasdaq listing that isn’t support

Coincheck (coincheck.com) is restricted to Japan residents only, ages 18 to 75. This isn’t a soft inconvenience or a workaround-able KYC hurdle — it’s a hard region-lock, confirmed directly in Coincheck’s own FAQ, which explicitly lists “residing outside Japan” as a non-accepted registration category.

There is a “Help in English – FAQs” self-serve section at faq.coincheck.com for existing/eligible users, but live chat support is explicitly Japanese business-hours only — weekdays 10:00-17:00, presumably JST — with no confirmed English availability.

For verified official contact, Coincheck’s legally-mandated Specified Commercial Transactions Act disclosure page lists support@coincheck.com as the official support email, along with a Tokyo phone number: 03-6416-5370. Read that number’s own listing carefully, though — it explicitly states it cannot handle transaction or service inquiries. It exists solely to satisfy Japanese legal disclosure requirements, not to function as a customer support line. If you’re hoping to call Coincheck about your account, this number will not help you.

On the Nasdaq listing: Coincheck Group N.V., the Dutch holding company, began trading on Nasdaq under the tickers CNCK/CNCKW in December 2024, following a SPAC merger. This is worth knowing about because it can create a false impression that Coincheck has “gone international” and now serves English-speaking retail customers. It hasn’t, in any support sense — the only contact listed on the Nasdaq entity’s own site is an investor-relations email, coincheckir@icrinc.com, handled by a third-party IR firm. That’s for institutional investors and financial press, not for customer support. A Nasdaq listing is a corporate-finance milestone, not evidence of expanded customer service.

Coincheck’s verified official X account is @coincheckjp, linked directly from Coincheck’s own Help Center.

Scam watch for Coincheck: Coincheck’s corporate site (corporate.coincheck.com) and FAQ warn about phishing emails sent from lookalike domains — for example, a domain styled like “coinchak.com” rather than the real “coincheck.com” — and about fake phone calls where scammers pose as Coincheck staff, falsely claim there’s been unauthorized access to your account, and pressure you to log in or transfer crypto immediately. Coincheck states plainly that it never calls customers this way and never asks for credit card numbers, PINs, passwords, or authentication codes by email, SMS, or social media.

The pattern across all three: fake support is the real risk

Look at what these three exchanges have in common. Each one has a large, well-known brand name, a real region-lock keeping most of the world out, and thin or ambiguous English support even for people who are eligible. That combination is exactly the environment scammers exploit.

When you can’t reach genuine support easily, and you’re anxious about an account or a transaction, you become more likely to trust the first thing that looks official in a search result or an unsolicited message. That’s how fake Yelp listings for “Upbit support,” lookalike domains like support-upbit.com, dead-but-still-findable rebrands like BitGlobal, and confident-sounding phone calls “from Bithumb” or “from Coincheck” get traction. None of the three exchanges covered here has a general public-facing phone support line that we could verify — Coincheck’s disclosed number explicitly refuses service inquiries, and neither Upbit nor Bithumb has a confirmed number at all. If anything you find promises phone support for these platforms, treat that as a red flag rather than a convenience.

The safest habit: always type the exchange’s domain in yourself rather than clicking a search result or a link from an email, social post, or unsolicited call. Bookmark the real domain once you’ve verified it, and never act on urgency — real exchanges don’t need you to move funds in the next five minutes.

What to do instead

If you’re outside Korea and Japan and just want to buy or trade crypto, trying to force your way onto Upbit, Bithumb, or Coincheck isn’t the efficient path — and as shown above, it’s the exact scenario scammers are set up to exploit. It makes more sense to pick an exchange that actually serves your region from the start, with verified support channels you can use if something goes wrong. Our Best Crypto Exchanges for Beginners (2026) guide covers exchanges that are genuinely open to a wider international audience.

FAQ

Can I sign up for Upbit if I don’t live in Korea?

Not on Upbit Korea (upbit.com) — it requires a Korean mobile number under your real name, an Alien Registration Card for foreign residents, and a K-Bank account, which K-Bank generally won’t link for foreign nationals. Separate “Upbit Global” entities exist in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, but whether a UK/US/EU resident can register there was not confirmed in our research — check directly on their platform.

Can foreigners open a new Bithumb account?

No. Bithumb stopped accepting new overseas registrations on 13 August 2021, and also blocked new sign-ups from foreign nationals in Korea without an Alien Registration Card. Existing foreign account holders from before that date have an “Asset Return Guide for Foreigner Members” article on Bithumb’s English site for withdrawing funds.

Is Bithumb Global or BitGlobal the same company as Bithumb?

No, and this is a genuinely important distinction. Bithumb Global was rebranded to BitGlobal in 2021 and is now widely reported as effectively defunct or scam-adjacent, with frozen withdrawals and unreachable support reported in 2024-2025. Its support domain doesn’t even resolve. Don’t confuse it with the real bithumb.com.

Can non-Japan residents use Coincheck?

No. Coincheck’s own FAQ explicitly excludes people “residing outside Japan” from registration, and the age range is 18-75. This is a hard, officially confirmed region-lock.

Does Coincheck’s Nasdaq listing mean it now supports international customers?

No. The Nasdaq listing (CNCK/CNCKW, December 2024) is for Coincheck Group N.V., the Dutch holding company, and it’s a corporate-finance event. The only contact on that entity’s site is an investor-relations email for institutional/press inquiries, not customer support. Coincheck’s actual disclosure-page phone number explicitly cannot handle service inquiries either.

Why do exchange names end up with confusingly similar spin-off brands?

Large exchanges often set up separate regional or international entities for regulatory reasons — different licensing regimes require legally distinct companies. When one of those entities gets rebranded or shut down, as happened with Bithumb Global becoming BitGlobal, the old name lingers in search results, bookmarks, and old links, creating exactly the kind of confusion scammers rely on. Always confirm which specific entity and domain you’re dealing with.

Disclaimer: Educational information, not financial advice. Verify all contact details and regional availability directly on each exchange’s official website — HodlGuide is not affiliated with Upbit, Bithumb, or Coincheck.

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HodlGuide Editorial Team

The HodlGuide editorial team researches and tests crypto wallets and exchanges, documenting setup flows, fees and security practices so readers can choose the right tool for self-custody.