Launch of Joint Investigation Team Signals New Era of Oversight in Virtual Asset Market

On July 26, the Joint Investigation Team for Virtual Asset Crimes, comprising experts from seven organizations, including the Prosecutors’ Office and the Financial Supervisory Services, was officially established. This team is tasked with promptly investigating crimes related to virtual assets, such as listing misconduct, unfair trading, and activities involving delisted or investor alert-flagged virtual assets.

Their primary focus will be on illegal practices such as requesting unauthorized listings, kickbacks involving exchange personnel, price manipulation, insider trading, tax evasion, illegal foreign exchange, concealing criminal proceeds, and money laundering. Initially, their efforts will concentrate on violations of existing laws in the virtual asset market, including undeclared services, fraud, embezzlement, pyramid schemes, tax evasion, illegal foreign exchange, money laundering, and hacking, as the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, regulating unfair trade activities, will come into effect in July next year.

Unlike traditional securities markets, the virtual asset market has historically lacked close monitoring, with investigations often initiated only in response to victim complaints. However, this is set to change, as increased scrutiny of the virtual asset market is anticipated. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has already emphasized the need for cracking down on undeclared virtual asset service providers to the Joint Investigation Team. Consequently, individuals engaging in activities likely to be exposed to the public, such as cash transactions or marketing activities, should exercise extra caution.