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Exchanges
Officials at South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, have been indicted for fraud. They allegedly made bogus crypto orders worth approximately $ 226 billion and sold 11,550 BTC to around 26,000 investors. It did not commit fraud, engage in wash trades, or trade cryptocurrencies.
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Officials Indicted
<img class = "size-medium wp-image-264167 alignright” title=”Officials at Top Korean Cryptocurrency Exchange Upbit Indicted for Fraud” src=”https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/upbit-300×93.jpg” alt=”Officials at Top Korean Cryptocurrency Exchange Upbit Indicated for Fraud "width =" 300 "height =" 93 "srcset =" https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/upbit-300×93.jpg 300w , https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/upbit-768×237.jpg 768w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/upbit- 1024×316.jpg 1024w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/upbit-696×215.jpg 696w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/ 12 / upbit.jpg 1027w "sizes =" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px”/>Three officials at South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, have been "indicted for offering fraudulent transactions and swindling money from investors," Yonhap reported Friday.
According to the Southern Seoul District Prosecutors' Office, a board chairman, a financial director and a working-level official of the exchange "allegedly opened a fake account around September last year," the news outlet conveyed. The prosecutors said the officials "made bogus orders worth 254 trillion won (US $ 226.2 billion) over a period of two months to inflate the currency transactions and lure more customers," the publication detailed, adding:
While rigging transactions, they actually sold 11,550 bitcoins to around 26,000 customers and pocketed 150 billion won.
Upbit is currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country, with over 50% domestic market share. With an adjusted 24-hour trading volume of almost $ 1.1 billion at the time of this writing, the exchange currently ranks as the world's third largest crypto exchange, according to Coinmarketcap.
Upbit Denies Allegations
<img class = "size-medium wp-image-264174 alignright” title=”Officials at Top Korean Cryptocurrency Exchange Upbit Indicted for Fraud” src=”https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/btc-1-300×237.jpg” alt=”Officials at Top Korean Cryptocurrency Exchange Upbit Indicated for Fraud "width =" 300 "height =" 237 "srcset =" https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/btc-1-300×237. jpg 300w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/btc-1-533×420.jpg 533w, https://news.bitcoin.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/ 12 / btc-1.jpg 695w "sizes =" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px”/>Yonhap also reported that Upbit "strongly denies the allegations." The investigation into the exchange's operations started eight months ago.
On Friday, the Kakao-backed exchange released a detailed explanation of what happened. "The exchange began." "The case is related to a three-month period [last year], from Sept. 24 to Dec. 31. Upbit explained that all transactions in question were from "when our company was preparing for and had just launched Upbit service. All transactions that took place in the Upbit category.
Upbit did not commit wash trading (cross trading), imaginary orders (provision of liquidity), or fraudulent trading. The company did not trade cryptocurrencies which it did not own, or have its staff and employees benefit from such trading.
Upbit continued to explain that " cross trading took place for marketing purposes. "Nonetheless, the exchange claims that" such trading had no influence on the market price, and the volume of such trading took up about 3% of the total trade volume at that time. "
The exchange also noted that its auditor has confirmed three times – on Jan. 19, June 28, and Oct. 8 – that its combined cash and cryptocurrency balance exceeds the amount owed to customers. "As of Oct. 8 when the most recent audit took place, Upbit held around 103% of the cryptocurrencies payable to customers. Also, Upbit's bank balance is 165% of the cash payable to customers.
Do you think Upbit is guilty? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Upbit.
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