• South Korean authorities have detained several staff members of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinone for criminal activities, including breach of trust.
• The arrests were issued by Seoul Southern District Court Chief Judge Kim Ji-Sook, as the employees could escape and it was deemed necessary to detain them.
• It is alleged that Coinone executives received bribes to list certain cryptocurrencies on their platform, with one coin even linked to a possible murder.
Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinone Under Investigation
South Korean authorities have taken several staff members of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinone for breach of trust and other criminal acts. The arrest warrants were issued by Seoul Southern District Court Chief Judge Kim Ji-Sook, who stated that the employees in question could escape and deemed it necessary to detain them.
Allegations Of Bribery
Prosecutors in South Korea have claimed that the executives in question had received billions to list specific cryptocurrencies on their platform. Hwang Mo, a listing broker at Coinone allegedly paid 2 billion won ($1.5 million) to another employee Kim Mo as bribes in exchange for listing certain assets on their platform. Authorities also suspect that ex-director Mr Jeon had received payments to facilitate listing certain assets and circumvent listing procedures outlined for the exchange.
One Crypto Tied To Possible Murder
Investigators further alleged that one of the coins listed on the exchange could be tied to a possible murder case from Gangnam District in Seoul. Dubbed “FureverCoin”, authorities suspect that this crypto investment gone wrong may have triggered retaliatory actions leading up to this potential homicide incident.
Coinone & The Big 4
Coinone is one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, often counted among its infamous “Big 4” crypto exchanges alongside UPbit, Bithumb, and Korbit which together handle over 90% of all crypto trading volume within the country. Recently South Korean regulators had mandated stricter rules that exchanges operating within its jurisdiction needed to abide by and Coinone was one such platform which fulfilled these requirements successfully under its new director Kevin Cha who established it back in 2014 with an aim towards serving crypto users based within South Korea itself which later expanded into Indonesia as well by 2017.
Conclusion
South Korea has been making headlines since early this week following news regarding investigations against another major local crypto exchange Upbit accused of fraudulently inflating its balance sheets with fake deposits amounting up to $226 million USD worth of cryptocurrency tokens drawing parallels between both incidents involving two major exchanges from within its borders albeit under different circumstances entirely hinting at an increasingly precarious situation when it comes down dealing with digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH).