South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service is sharpening its focus on suspected crypto price manipulation, outlining a 2026 program of investigations into high-risk trading tactics. The plan contemplates a slate of probes targeting “whale”-driven swings, artificial moves that accompany exchange deposit or withdrawal suspensions, and schemes that exploit APIs and social channels to spread misinformation. Officials say automation will underpin the crackdown, using real-time anomaly detection and text-analysis tools to flag manipulation clusters and linked accounts. The initiative follows a wave of regulatory signals as Seoul readies the Digital Asset Basic Act’s second phase, signaling a shift from reactive guidance to structured oversight in a rapidly evolving market.

Key takeaways

• The FSS will pursue targeted probes into high-risk trading practices, including whale activity, with investigations slated for 2026.
• Planned inquiries will examine gating-like disruptions during exchange suspensions and coordinated trading via APIs and social media, aiming to curb market disruption.
• Automated detection will be enhanced by analyzing ultra-short-interval price movements and by flagging manipulation “sections” and related account groups, complemented by text analytics to spot coordinated misinformation.
• A dedicated task force will help implement the Digital Asset Basic Act’s second phase, focusing on disclosures, exchange oversight, and licensing standards.
• Operational incidents at domestic exchanges, including a high-profile promotional Bitcoin error, have intensified regulatory urgency and oversight actions.

Tickers mentioned: $BTC

Sentiment: Neutral

Market context: The move reflects a broader push toward data-driven crypto market supervision, aligning with global trends that seek to balance investor protection with market efficiency as liquidity, risk sentiment, and regulation evolve.

Why it matters

The regulatory emphasis in South Korea matters for traders, exchanges, and investors who operate within or rely on the domestic crypto ecosystem. By centering investigations on whale-driven volatility, exchange suspensions, and API-driven manipulation, authorities aim to reduce episodes where price discovery is distorted by rapid, coordinated actions. Automated tooling for anomaly detection, combined with natural-language processing to identify misinformation, represents a shift toward scalable enforcement capable of keeping pace with fast-moving, cross-border trading strategies.

For exchange operators, the plan signals that governance and transparency will be non-negotiable prerequisites for continued growth and licensing legitimacy. The emphasis on disclosures, licensing standards, and robust internal controls could lead to tighter compliance frameworks, more rigorous surveillance programs, and clearer rules for handling market stress events. In turn, investors may benefit from improved visibility into risk controls and a more predictable regulatory environment as market participants seek to navigate this evolving landscape with greater confidence.

On a broader level, the Korean approach mirrors a regional and global trend toward harmonizing supervision as digital assets become more integrated into mainstream finance. Regulators are converging on models that combine automated market surveillance, on-chain analytics, and cross-agency cooperation to monitor both price behavior and the narratives that influence investor behavior. The outcome could influence liquidity dynamics and risk appetite across Asian markets, while also shaping how international firms design compliant product offerings and reporting frameworks for the Korean market.

What to watch next

• The Digital Asset Basic Act Phase 2 timeline, including expected disclosures and licensing guidelines for exchanges.
• Results and implications from the emergency regulator review following the Bithumb incident, with potential updates to internal-control requirements across platforms.
• Rollout and public guidance on automated detection tools, gating-related risk controls, and governance measures for API-based trading.
• Further regulatory updates around AI surveillance deployments and how they intersect with enforcement workflows.
• Any formal investigations arising from notable price movements on domestic platforms, including cross-referenced incidents and regulator cooperation with exchanges.

Sources & verification

• Yonhap News Agency report detailing FSS Governor Lee Chang-jin’s remarks and the plan to target high-risk trading practices in 2026.
• February 2, FSS expansion of AI-powered surveillance tools in crypto markets.
• Asia Business Daily report on FSC, FSS, and KoFIU emergency inspection meeting following the Bithumb incident.
• February 3, FSS review of sharp price movements in the ZKsync token during a system maintenance window on Upbit.
• Upbit operator Dunamu’s statements about internal surveillance and regulator cooperation.

Ramping up oversight: Korea’s FSS targets manipulation as AI surveillance expands

In a move that aligns with a wider global push to cement market integrity in digital assets, South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service is unveiling an expansive plan to scrutinize pricing dynamics in crypto markets. The plan contemplates a 2026 slate of investigations into high-risk trading practices and market manipulation, with a particular emphasis on practices that distort price discovery. The scope includes large-volume moves driven by whales, as well as schemes that exploit exchange hostilities, deposit and withdrawal suspensions, and rapid-fire trading across APIs. As regulators position themselves, the emphasis is on both detection and deterrence. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and other assets have been a focus as these dynamic conditions unfold, according to a report from Yonhap News Agency.

One of the more persistent vulnerabilities highlighted by the FSS is the so-called gating phenomenon — periods when an exchange halts deposits or withdrawals to manage risk or liquidity. Such pauses can effectively lock up supply on a platform, triggering price dislocations that do not reflect broad market sentiment. By design, gating can amplify price moves and create an artificial sense of scarcity or demand. Regulators intend to deter this practice by exposing relationships between trading bursts and system interruptions, and by mapping how such disruptions ripple across the broader crypto ecosystem.

The FSS’s surveillance playbook expands beyond mere price tracking. expanded its use of artificial intelligence-powered surveillance to monitor crypto markets, reducing the reliance on manual screening and allowing for faster pattern recognition across vast datasets. The agency says it will build tools capable of flagging manipulation “sections” — clusters of suspicious trading activity tied to specific accounts or wallets — and perform text analytics to detect coordinated misinformation campaigns that could influence investor behavior. In effect, regulators seek to fuse traditional market surveillance with on-chain analytics and natural-language processing to catch both the economic and narrative drivers of manipulation.

From a regulatory design perspective, Seoul is accelerating work on the Digital Asset Basic Act — the framework guiding how exchanges operate, how assets are classed and supervised, and how license regimes are structured. A dedicated task force has been formed to handle Phase 2 of the act, focusing on disclosure requirements, exchange oversight, and licensing standards. The aim is to create a predictable, transparent regime that can scale as market activity grows and products diversify, reducing compliance ambiguity for operators and reducing the chances of protracted enforcement disputes.

The regulatory intensification sits against a backdrop of recent operational incidents that have elevated risk awareness inside the domestic market. Bithumb disclosed that it recovered 99.7% of excess Bitcoin credited during a promotional error, an event that briefly churned prices and prompted compensation for affected users. The episode prompted regulators to convene for an emergency inspection meeting involving the Financial Services Commission, the FSS, and the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, a meeting that Asia Business Daily described as ordering a comprehensive review of internal controls across exchanges. The episode underscored how technology-based vulnerabilities can translate into real-world customer risk and regulatory scrutiny.

Separately, the FSS said on Feb. 3 that it was reviewing sharp price movements in the ZKsync token during a system maintenance window on Upbit, signaling a willingness to escalate to formal probes if warranted. Upbit’s operator Dunamu has previously asserted that it operates internal systems to flag suspicious activity and that it can cooperate fully with regulators to provide trading data upon request. The FSS’s evolving stance suggests that market-makers, liquidity providers, and platform operators should anticipate closer watch over both their trading data and their information channels, including how they communicate with users during turbulent periods.

In sum, the current trajectory signals a maturation of South Korea’s crypto regulatory regime. The combination of automated surveillance, a formalized act, and high-profile incident responses indicates a shift from reactive guidance to proactive risk management. While the specifics of enforcement remain to be seen, the direction is clear: if the market is to expand in a compliant fashion, exchanges and participants will need to demonstrate robust governance, robust disclosure, and a willingness to collaborate transparently with the authorities.