[Invest&Law] "It Is Problematic to Leave Virtual Asset Listings Only to Exchanges"

Daegum Securities Finance Expert Inspection Community
Korean Financial Law Association Joint Academic Conference

On the 8th, panelists at the academic conference on "New Era Challenges for Responding to Unfair Trade Practices." Photo by Beopryul Newspaper

On the 8th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Securities Finance Virtual Asset Specialized Inspection Community and the Korean Financial Law Association (President Kim Hak-seok) held a joint autumn academic conference at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office large conference room under the theme "New Era Challenges for Responding to Unfair Trade."

Kim Yong-je, Chief Prosecutor of the Criminal Division 3 at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office East Branch (former Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Virtual Asset Crime Joint Investigation Unit at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office), who presented on "Virtual Asset User Protection Act and Unfair Trade," stated, "The listing procedures of virtual asset exchanges must be significantly strengthened."

He added, "It is not reasonable to leave the listing standards and procedures that virtual asset exchanges must prepare and comply with entirely to the discretion of the exchanges. Supervisory authorities should establish guidelines for listing standards and procedures and require exchanges to implement their own guidelines based on those."

Park Su, a prosecutor at the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office (former prosecutor at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Unit), who presented on "New Forms of Market Manipulation," said, "When managing daily price increases related to new types of market manipulation occurring over a long period, evading IP tracking, and accumulating stocks over an extended period to avoid government crackdowns, it is necessary to consider methods to prove the purpose of market manipulation and the orders."

Prosecutor Park stated, "It is necessary to review the subjective element of the crime, the purpose of inducing trading, and the objective element, the criteria for judging price fluctuation transactions. Precedents use the standard of whether there is a price and volume formed in a free competitive market according to supply and demand."

Professor Kim Yoo-sung of Yonsei University Law School said, "Criminal punishment requires strict proof of the elements of the crime, so many unfair trade acts are either not prosecuted or receive light penalties even if prosecuted. The current system prioritizes criminal responsibility and supplements it with administrative responsibility, so it needs to be operated reasonably."

Reporter Lim Hyun-kyung, Legal Newspaper