Financial Services Commission reports to prosecutors a group that manipulated crypto prices by mobilizing tens of billions of won

People accused of manipulating virtual asset prices and making profits by mobilizing tens of billions of won have been reported to the prosecution.

The Financial Services Commission said on the 5th that at its 19th regular meeting it approved a motion to report to investigative authorities individuals involved in two cases of virtual asset price manipulation.

Among them, some bought virtual assets and even placed sell orders in advance, then mobilized tens of billions of won to artificially raise the price to a target level.

It was confirmed that they repeatedly carried out the process in which their sell orders were executed when ordinary users bought and pushed prices up, repeatedly securing illicit gains of billions of won.

The Financial Supervisory Service detected the case while monitoring the virtual asset market.

In another case, several suspects manipulated the prices of multiple assets to obtain illicit gains of hundreds of millions of won. After one person selected a token and announced it, other members used automated trading programs (APIs) to make trading appear active.

Some divided roles, repeatedly submitted high-price buy orders themselves, or inflated the number of trade executions.

The Financial Services Commission warned, "Investors should be careful because if the price of a low-liquidity virtual asset rises without a particular reason or trading volume increases, the price can suddenly plunge."

The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service continuously monitor unfair trading in the virtual asset market. They start investigations immediately upon detecting suspicious trading and take measures.

Shin Min-kyung, Hankyung.com reporter radio@hankyung.com