South Korea moves to prosecute crypto whale for alleged pump-and-dump scheme

South Korea's top financial watchdog has referred two individuals to prosecution for suspected price manipulation in the crypto market.

On Wednesday, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that it has approved the referral of suspects in two separate market manipulation cases following discussions at its 12th regular meeting.

In one case, the commission accuses a crypto whale of using tens of billions of Korean won over roughly two months to manipulate the price of a cryptocurrency listed on both domestic and overseas exchanges. Based on current rates, 10 billion won is equivalent to about $6.4 million.

The suspect allegedly accumulated nearly half of the token's circulating supply to gain dominance over the cryptocurrency. Then, the suspect "pumped" the token price on overseas exchanges, induced domestic investors to buy it, and dumped his holdings, resulting in significant losses for retail investors, according to the FSC.

The second case involves another individual who allegedly used API channels to repeatedly place small market buy and sell orders to create the appearance of active trading, while simultaneously submitting high-priced limit buy orders on the web channel to drive up the price. After attracting other buyers, the suspect sold off holdings in portions to realize profits.

"Investors should refrain from chasing virtual assets whose prices and trading volumes surge (or spike sharply) without any reasonable cause," the FSC said in a translated statement. "In particular, the so-called 'pump-and-dump' schemes … artificially reduce available supply to inflate prices, and the subsequent sell-off often leads to a sharp price collapse."

The FSC also aims to enhance its warning system for highly concentrated crypto trading and advance its investigative framework to detect unfair practices more promptly.