South Korea has uncovered illegal cryptocurrency foreign exchange trading worth nearly $600 million, a sign authorities are tightening the regulatory screws on the digital asset that many global policymakers consider to be opaque and risky.
The country's customs service said in a statement on Wednesday that about 637.5 billion won ($596.02 million) worth of foreign exchange crimes were detected. "Customs service have been closely looking at illegal foreign exchange trading using cryptocurrency as part of the government's task force," it said, underscoring stepped-up efforts by Seoul to crack down on illegal trading in the digital assets.
Illegal foreign currency trading of 472.3 billion won formed the bulk of the cryptocurrency crimes, the customs service said, but gave no details on what action authorities were taking against the rule breaches.