South Korea will launch a special investigation into cryptocurrency price manipulation and plans to introduce punitive fines for IT incidents.

PANews February 9 News, according to Yonhap News Agency, the Korea Financial Supervisory Service announced its 2026 business plan today, revealing a series of strengthened regulatory measures for the virtual asset market. The Financial Supervisory Service will conduct special investigations into high-risk areas that disrupt market order, focusing on cracking down on typical manipulation behaviors such as “whale” market price manipulation, “cage” tactics, “horse race” tactics, and other forms of market manipulation, as well as improper trading involving API orders or spreading false information via social media. Additionally, they will develop artificial intelligence analysis tools to perform second-by-second and minute-by-minute analysis of abnormally surging virtual assets, automatically identifying suspicious trading ranges and groups. To prevent financial IT incidents, the Financial Supervisory Service will introduce a punitive fine system and strengthen the safety responsibilities of CEOs and Chief Information Security Officers. Furthermore, they will officially operate an integrated monitoring system to collect and disseminate cyber threat information in the financial sector. The Financial Supervisory Service has also established a “Digital Asset Basic Law” preparation team to support the effective implementation of secondary legislation on virtual assets. The preparation team will develop disclosure systems related to virtual asset issuance and trading support, and create a manual for licensing review of digital asset business operators and stablecoin issuers.