Raid campaigns
Last month, security authorities in Seoul raided three digital currency trading platforms. The raids came after a government inquiry in January that found that a certain amount of client assets had been illegally transferred to the accounts of the manager of the currency trading platform. According to Chief Prosecutor Jeong Dae-jiung, the authorities conducted raids over three days. Items confiscated included hard drives, mobile phones and financial transaction records. Gyeong said:
"It is not yet clear whether transactions can be considered as embezzlement"
The Wall Street Journal reported that no information was provided on the total amount of funds nor the transactions of the floating currency trading platform. However, Gyeong noted that one of the traded platforms was in the neighborhood of UNIDO where the large trading platform (Coinone) is located. Investigations conducted after the raid also revealed that the client assets were used by at least one of the accused parties to purchase Bitquin from other trading platforms.
The news comes as South Korea continues to lead the digital currency headlines, and the country itself remains one of the biggest players in the market. In 2017, the currency of South Korea "Won" was the fourth most widely used currency for Betquin trading - after the dollar, the yen and the euro. For the etherium and betcin, the wun was second. The digital currencies in Korea have attracted the attention of some foreign currency trading platforms, such as the Chinese OkCoin platform. It also drew the attention of the South Korean government, which is seeking tougher legislation on a rapidly expanding market.
South Korea has already imposed restrictions on anonymous currency trading. However, the State is reviewing the prohibition on currency support operations. The Korea Times reported earlier this month - one of South Korea's biggest newspapers - that the South Korean government would lift its ban on currency support operations soon and allow the sale of primary currency under certain conditions. In addition, local news agency Yonhap reported last month that Choi Hyung-sik, governor of the Department of Financial Supervision, said government organizations would "support" all legitimate transactions in the area of digital currency trading.