South Korea’s Monetary Supervisory Service (FSS) mentioned it can step up scrutiny of suspected cryptocurrency worth manipulation in 2026, outlining a slate of deliberate investigations that focus on high-risk buying and selling ways, together with “whale” exercise and schemes that exploit disruptions at native exchanges, native outlet Yonhap reported Monday.
According to Yonhap Information Company, FSS Governor Lee Chang-jin mentioned that the company will goal high-risk buying and selling practices that undermine market order, together with coordinated manipulation and schemes exploiting disruptions in change infrastructure.
The FSS mentioned the probes will give attention to ways that contain large-scale buying and selling by whales, synthetic worth swings throughout change deposit or withdrawal suspensions and coordinated buying and selling mechanisms utilizing APIs or social media to unfold false data.
Beneath the plan, the regulator mentioned it intends to strengthen automated detection by analyzing irregular worth actions at very quick intervals and creating instruments that may flag suspected manipulation “sections” and associated account teams, alongside textual content evaluation that may assist establish coordinated misinformation.
Deliberate probes goal crypto manipulation ways
The FSS mentioned it can examine practices that distort worth discovery, together with schemes that make the most of change deposit or withdrawal suspensions, a apply referred to in South Korea as “gating.”
These conditions can entice provide on a platform, creating synthetic actions disconnected from the broader digital asset markets.
The monetary watchdog additionally talked about that it’s going to monitor manipulation utilizing market-order APIs and coordinated exercise geared toward amplifying false narratives on social media.
On Feb. 2, the FSS expanded its use of synthetic intelligence-powered surveillance instruments to observe crypto markets, lowering reliance on handbook identification of potential manipulation.
In parallel, the watchdog established a job power to arrange for the introduction of the Digital Asset Primary Act, the second part of the nation’s crypto regulatory framework.
The unit will assist the implementation planning relatively than enforcement, together with work on disclosures, change oversight and licensing requirements.
Associated: South Korea tightens crypto licensing guidelines for exchanges and shareholders
Alternate incidents add urgency to oversight push
The more durable tone arrives after a collection of exchange-related incidents put operational danger again within the highlight.
On Sunday, crypto change Bithumb mentioned it recovered 99.7% of extra Bitcoin (BTC) mistakenly credited to customers throughout a promotional error.
Whereas the change mentioned no buyer belongings have been misplaced, the episode briefly triggered sharp worth swings and prompted compensation measures for affected customers.
The incident triggered a response from regulators. According to the Asia Enterprise Day by day, the Monetary Companies Fee (FSC) held an emergency inspection assembly on Sunday with the FSS and the Korea Monetary Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), the place officers reportedly ordered a complete evaluation of inner controls throughout all home crypto exchanges.
On Feb. 3, the FSS mentioned it was reviewing sharp worth actions within the ZKsync token throughout a system upkeep window on Upbit. The regulator mentioned it was analyzing the information and will escalate the evaluation into a proper investigation relying on the findings.
Upbit operator Dunamu beforehand instructed Cointelegraph that it has inner programs that additionally flag suspicious actions and a course of that includes cooperating with regulators.
“When regulators request data, we will present the related buying and selling information at once,” the spokesperson instructed Cointelegraph.
Journal: South Korea will get wealthy from crypto… North Korea will get weapons
