The top South Korean financial regulator has demands to know about crypto exchanges’ token delisting policies and wants to compile a list of high-risk altcoins – in a move likely connected to the trading platform Upbit’s recent decision to delist up to 30 tokens.
According to Asia Kyungjae, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) – which appears to be set on flexing its muscles after being handed almost complete control over the nation’s crypto sector – has ordered exchanges to send it a list of any tokens they are considering removing from their platforms.
Most of the country’s biggest exchanges have their own protocols for delisting, which involve regularly auditing tokens to check for project activity, stability, liquidity, market capitalization, and other issues. Any tokens they feel are performing particularly badly are placed under internal scrutiny for (usually) a 30-day period.
But the market-leading Upbit platform recently raised eyebrows when it announced it was delisting five tokens and put 25 more on its provisional list. Unless the tokens in question show a reversal in fortunes over the next month, they too will be delisted – in what appears to be a coordinated cull.
Per Digital Today and KBS, the five initial coins will be delisted on June 18, with the remaining number designated as “tokens of concern.”
But the FSC appears to be incensed that the platform sought to inform its customers about this development before letting the regulator know of its intentions.
Asia Kyungjae reported that 20 trading platforms had received emails from the FSC ordering them to send a list of any tokens they had earmarked for possible delisting. The lists must be submitted by June 18.
The FSC stated that it wanted the information so that it could stay abreast of “market trends.”
Meanwhile, more branches of the South Korean tax body have continued a region-by-region tax crackdown on high-band taxpayers who it suspects of under-reporting earnings and seeking to conceal funds by making cash for crypto purchases.
More tokens have been seized in the latest round of crackdown in two large cities – Ulsan, in South Gyeongsang Province, and the Seoul satellite city of Gwangmyeong.
Per Chosun and Gyeongin Bangsong, five Ulsan residents decided to immediately pay outstanding arrears in full in order to regain access to their tokens – which had been frozen and seized from exchange platforms.
The tax body has stated that it will liquidate tokens belonging to offenders who fail to begin settling their tax bills, and will withhold tokens until those making partial payments have paid their outstanding balances.
Around 100 offenders were found in total in both cities, with tax bodies claiming they owed a collective total of over USD 254,000 worth of arrears.
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Learn more:
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– Korean Exchanges Running out of Options as More Banks Say No to Crypto
– S Korean Regulator Holds ‘Significant’ Meeting with 20 Crypto Exchanges