Asia Crypto: Korea Tackles Manipulation, Bakkt Eyes Japan
Asia Pacific Crypto Update: Market Manipulation and Institutional Moves
Here's your overview of the latest crypto developments across the Asia Pacific region, focusing on regulatory actions, institutional investment, and strategic shifts.
Korea Cracks Down on Crypto Market Manipulation
South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) is taking a strong stance against crypto market manipulation. Criminal referrals have been issued against “whale” investors accused of artificially inflating cryptocurrency prices using billions of won. These individuals allegedly placed suspicious buy orders to drive up prices, then sold their holdings as interest surged.
- Authorities are also prosecuting cases involving false social media promotions of crypto assets, where fraudsters pre-purchased coins before posting fake positive news.
- One sophisticated scheme involved manipulating Tether markets to inflate Bitcoin-linked coin prices, exploiting exchange pricing mechanisms for KRW conversions.
Regulators have imposed the first monetary penalties under new crypto protection laws, requiring exchanges to display average prices in both internal and domestic markets. Investors are warned to avoid assets showing unexplained price spikes.
Bakkt Plans Japan Expansion, Eyes Bitcoin Transformation
Bakkt CEO Phillip Lord announced that Hotta Marusho is holding a shareholder meeting from October 16-24. The agenda includes renaming the company to “Bitcoin Japan Corporation” and expanding business operations to focus on Bitcoin. Lord believes Japan will lead the Bitcoin era through this digital treasury transformation.
Alibaba Co-founder's Firm Invests in Ethereum
Yunfeng Financial Group, linked to Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, has purchased 10,000 ETH, worth approximately $44 million. The Hong Kong-listed fintech company will now record cryptocurrency as investment assets, aligning with their strategy to expand into Web3, tokenized real-world assets, and DeFi.
Other Key Developments in Asia
- Ripple and Singapore’s Thunes have expanded their partnership to streamline cross-border payments across 90+ markets.
- Hong Kong is launching stablecoin licensing while mainland China tightens restrictions on digital yuan usage.
Global News
- Argentina’s Congress has summoned Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson to testify in President Milei’s Libra scandal probe.
- Polymarket has received CFTC approval to launch in US markets after acquiring regulated derivatives exchange QCX.