Financial Services Commission Reports 'Virtual Asset Price Manipulation' Suspect to Prosecutors

Uk Jin

Summary

Financial authorities announced that they have reported suspect A, accused of virtual asset price manipulation, to the prosecutors.
Suspect A allegedly increased the price and trading volume in a short time and then sold to gain unfair profits.
This is the first case processed through formal investigation procedures since the implementation of the Virtual Asset Act.

An individual accused of manipulating virtual asset (cryptocurrency) prices has been reported to the prosecutors.

According to industry sources on the 16th, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service announced that they have reported suspect A, accused of unfair trading in the virtual asset market, to the prosecutors.

This case is the first to be processed through formal investigation procedures since the implementation of the 'Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users, etc.' (Virtual Asset Act) in July last year, which includes ▲ notification by virtual asset exchanges to financial authorities of unusual user transactions ▲ investigation, review, and resolution by financial authorities ▲ reporting to prosecutors.

Suspect A purchased a significant amount of a specific virtual asset and repeatedly submitted orders in a short period to increase the price and trading volume. Once the price rose, they sold all the purchased quantities. The price manipulation process was mostly completed within 10 minutes, during which the price of the virtual asset, which was in a sideways trend, showed a pattern of sharp rise followed by a steep fall. Financial authorities identified that through such transactions, suspect A gained an unfair profit of several hundred million won (tentative) over about a month.