South Korea Investigates AVAIL Trading Patterns on Bithumb Platform

• South Korean regulators are investigating AVAIL’s trading patterns on Bithumb, focusing on possible market manipulation by an unnamed investor.
• Lawmaker Min Byeong-deok urges transparency, questioning Bithumb’s role in monitoring AVAIL’s suspicious trading activities.

Recently, legislators from South Korea have focused on Avail (AVAIL), a cryptocurrency whose odd trading behavior on the Bithumb market has generated debate. The investigation started after AVAIL’s price surged dramatically on July 23, 2024, then fell precipitously 24 hours later.

Under the new Virtual Asset User Protection Act, put in place just days before the incident, this price behavior set off an inquiry by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). This act includes strict monitoring of transactions and seeks to address unfair trading methods like price manipulation.

Investors Role in AVAIL Drastic Price Fluctuations Raises Manipulation Concerns 

This investigation centers on an unidentified investor, found by the FSS as having been mostly responsible for the sudden price swings. Allegedly, this person bought a lot of AVAIL tokens from outside sources and then traded them on Bithumb, therefore driving the price from about $0.17 to $2.56 within a 15-minute interval.

The abrupt increase was followed by a rapid drop to almost $0.21 the following day. Especially, AVAIL’s value changed on Bithumb but its price stayed constant on other exchanges, which begged concerns about possible price manipulation.

With purportedly great returns to followers, the FSS is especially interested in how this investor might have used social media to solicit money for AVAIL purchases. If this approach proves valid, it could have artificially changed the trade dynamics on Bithumb, therefore benefiting the investor and causing losses for others.

Emphasizing the need to protect investors from such market oddities, the regulator’s conclusions might set a precedent for how such instances are handled under the recently passed law.

Vocal about this problem, lawmaker Min Byeong-deok characterizes AVAIL as a “burger coin,” a euphemism for tokens issued overseas but registered locally. He has been seeking specific information from financial authorities and challenging the function of exchanges like Bithumb in tracking such anomalous trading activity.

Min has previously expressed similar worries about other tokens, stressing what he observes as a pattern of carelessness among exchanges and authorities in protection of investor interests.

On the other hand, CNF previously reported that under South Korean civil law, ownership of cryptocurrencies will be handled as marital property during divorce procedures, according to IPG Legal, a law company from the nation.

The company also cited a 2018 Supreme Court decision acknowledging, given their economic worth, digital assets as property. As such, cryptocurrency bought during a marriage would be divided as part of the marital estate.