South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service said it will intensify investigations into suspected cryptocurrency price manipulation in 2026, targeting high-risk trading tactics as it prepares the next phase of crypto regulation.
According to Yonhap News Agency, FSS governor Lee Chang-jin said the regulator will focus on practices that undermine market order, including coordinated manipulation and schemes exploiting disruptions at domestic exchanges.
The FSS said probes will examine whale-driven trading, artificial price swings during deposit or withdrawal suspensions and coordinated activity using APIs or social media to spread false information.
To support enforcement, the watchdog plans to strengthen automated surveillance by analysing abnormal price movements at short intervals and using text analysis tools to detect coordinated misinformation.
The tougher stance follows recent exchange incidents, including a promotional error at Bithumb, where the platform recovered 99.7% of excess bitcoin mistakenly credited to users after brief price volatility.
Regulators also convened an emergency review of internal controls across domestic exchanges and said they are analysing sharp price movements in the ZKsync token during a maintenance window on Upbit.
In parallel, the FSS has formed a task force to prepare implementation of the Digital Asset Basic Act, covering disclosures, exchange oversight and licensing standards rather than direct enforcement.