Two South Koreans arrested for alleged price manipulation on Bithumb

Two South Korean men have been implicated in a case of price manipulation on crypto exchange Bithumb. The two men allegedly made approximately $5 million by manipulating the price of the Fusionist token ACE.

According to a report published Jan. 3 in local news media Digital Asset, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office’s Virtual Asset Joint Investigation Team investigated Kang, a former employee of M, along with M Lee, the 33-year-old CEO of virtual asset operator M. He arrested . Due to alleged market manipulation on Bithumb.

The couple was accused of price manipulation and violating South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act.

According to the police investigation conducted by Chief Park Geon-wook, the duo manipulated the price of ACE, the native token of the blockchain-based gaming project Fusionist. In South Korea, Bithumb is the only crypto exchange known to list ACE for market trading.

This is the first case that the South Korean Financial Services Commission has immediately classified as a top priority, placing it on the “Fast Track” for processing since October 25, 2024, for alleged violations of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.

According to the press release, Lee and Kang allegedly sold approximately 1.22 million ACE tokens by sending fake buy and sell orders to inflate the ACE price, making a profit of 7.1 billion won ($4.8 million).

On July 22, 2024, the prosecutor’s office noted that the trading volume of the Fusionist token increased approximately 15 times in a single day to approximately 2.45 million. Such suspicious trading activities tipped off authorities to the scheme taking place behind the scenes.

Price chart of the performance of the Fusionist token in the last year of 2024 | Source: CoinGecko

According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing, ACE is down slightly by 0.3% in the last 24 hours. Last week the token increased by 1.1%. However, over the past year, the Fusionist token has fallen by approximately 75%. ACE has a market cap of approximately $92 million and a fully diluted valuation of $319 million.

ACE’s worldwide transaction volume is at 7.8 million dollars in the last 24 hours. Trading volume dropped by 15% compared to the previous day, indicating a decline in market activity.

ACE was first listed on Bithumb in August 2024 with a starting price of approximately 3,722 won ($2.53).