30 Cases of Unfair Trading Detected, Payment Suspension Introduced in Phase 2 Law

After the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, 30 cases of unfair trading have been detected and referred to investigative authorities over the past two years. The financial authorities plan to introduce a payment suspension system in the second half of this year under the Digital Asset Basic Act (Phase 2 Law) to immediately freeze accounts and accounts involved in unfair trading. According to the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, investigations into a total of over 40 cases of unfair cryptocurrency trading have been completed, with 30 cases reported for price manipulation and fraudulent trading. There are 25 suspects, and an average of 8 different cryptocurrencies were used in each case. The average illicit gain per case is 1.4 billion won, with 8 cases involving illicit gains between 500 million and 5 billion won, and 1 case exceeding 5 billion won. The financial authorities have imposed fines ranging from 125% to 165% of the illegal profits for price manipulation and fraudulent trading cases to recover illicit gains. The detected cases include methods such as 'pigeonholing,' which raises the price of cryptocurrencies whose deposits and withdrawals have been suspended on specific exchanges, and 'racehorse' tactics that cause prices to surge through large orders. The financial authorities plan to introduce a system for account and account payment suspension and a reporting and reward system for unfair trading under the Phase 2 Law.