A local news publication shared that Jinwook Shin, the CEO of Bitsonic was arrested by South Korean police on August 7. Shin was under investigation for stealing users’ funds from the exchange he was operating.
Shin is accused of falsely manipulating the markets with faking trading volumes on Bitsonic and allegedly stealing $7.5 million from the exchange. Bitsonic stopped withdrawals for users after the liquidity crisis due to this while continuing to offer trading services.
Bitsonic exchange’s vice president, goes by the alias Mr. A, will also be put on trial without any preliminary detention. The vice president was involved in efforts to fake trading of certain cryptocurrencies held by Shin.
The investigation against Bitsonic exchange started in August 2021 after the exchange halted its operations. Shin is also accused of using a paper company in trading and profiting on the exchange with this method.
South Korea is continuously increasing its effort to fight against crypto crimes as well as also benefiting from technology, such as recently launched a CBDC pilot in some cities.