Police Investigates South Korea’s Biggest Crypto Exchange UPbit, Market Corrects Significantly
The cryptocurrency market saw a significant fall today as the news broke out that South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange UPbit is been investigated by the police. The report suggests that on Thursday, the local police of Seoul along with 10 investigators from the Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (KIU) have raided and seized the exchange’s headquarters.
The report shows that the cryptocurrency exchange UPbit has been charged with fraud for suspiciously moving funds from the exchange to the personal accounts of its executives. In a statement, the Prosecutor’s office said: "We have secured hard disks and accounting books through confiscation. Analysis is expected to take days.”
An UPbit executive initially refused to comment anything on this topic saying "At this time, I cannot answer anything about this seizure.” However, the exchange has issued an official statement on its website saying that the services are still operational.
The exchange said: “Upbit is currently under investigation by the prosecution, and we are working diligently. UPbit services such as all transactions and withdrawals are operating normally. Your assets are kept securely in your account, so you can rest assured that you can use UPbit services.”
UPbit is the most widely used cryptocurrency exchange of South Korea and has earned millions of dollars in profits during the crypto craze of the last year.
The investigation is still under process and the crypto community is waiting for the local police to release and an official report on this matter.
South Korean regulators have stepped up measures in the past few months over increased crypto trading activities in the country and along with the growing suspicion of other illicit activities of money laundering and tax evasion.
It is just last month that the President of other South Korean exchange Coinnest was arrested for stealing client funds and transferring them to other accounts. However, the exchange is still functioning after it confirmed that it has replaced the executive team of the exchange and will continue to operate as a local crypto trading platform.
The crypto-market has reacted to this news as the overall valuations have slipped below $400 billion while major currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple have all corrected by more than 5%.
As a result, Bitcoin has slipped below $9000, Ethereum below $700 and Ripple below $0.70.