BEARISH 📉 : South Korea Sentences Crypto Firm CEO for Market Manipulation

South Korean regulators are intensifying their oversight of the crypto market, focusing on corporate involvement. A South Korean court sentenced Jong-hwan Lee, CEO of a crypto asset management firm, to three years in prison for manipulating token prices and minting $4.8 million illicitly.

Key Details:

The Seoul Southern District Court found Lee guilty of violating the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.
Lee received a fine of 500 million won and must forfeit approximately 846 million won in criminal proceeds.
Lee used an automated trading program to inflate the trading volume of the ACE cryptocurrency, leading to substantial illegal profits.
The manipulation increased trading volume from 160,000 to 2.45 million units in one day, with Lee's trades comprising 89% of activity.

The court emphasized that such actions severely disrupt fair price formation in the virtual asset market and damage investor trust.

Regulatory Measures Against Crypto Manipulation:

South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is enhancing its Virtual Asset Investigation System (VISTA) using AI tools to combat market manipulation.
The upgraded system will detect pump-and-dump schemes and track illicit fund movements across platforms.
GPU-powered servers will be introduced to improve real-time monitoring and data processing efficiency.