Korea's FSC Probes 40 Crypto Manipulation Cases Since 2024 Law

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) in South Korea has investigated over 40 cases of unfair trading, including market manipulation and fraudulent crypto trading, since the Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect in July 2024. In an X post, FSC Chair Lee Eog-won reported that 30 of these cases were referred to investigative agencies, resulting in the identification of 25 suspects.

The average unlawful gains from these cases were around 1.4 billion Korean won ($940,000). The Virtual Asset User Protection Act aims to protect users who buy and store crypto assets with virtual asset service providers (VASPs) by requiring them to separate user deposits and virtual assets from their own corporate holdings.

The legislation also targets illicit activities such as insider trading, wash trading, and market manipulation. Lee emphasized that the FSC will continue to enhance its market surveillance investigation and monitoring systems using AI, and proactively respond to high-risk areas.