While countries continue to take measures against the increasingly common crypto currency fraud incidents, the last move came from South Korea.
South Korea has set up an interagency investigation unit to combat crypto crimes amid the rise in illegal activity in the crypto sector and the lack of legal protection for investors, Reuters reported.
Making a statement about the investigation unit, the South Korean Prosecutor's Office said that the name of the unit is “Joint Investigation Center for Crypto Crimes” and will be managed by about 30 personnel from various institutions.
“Digital assets are currently comparable investment products to equities. However, market participants are effectively excluded from legal protection due to incomplete laws and systems.
We aim the established investigation center to fill the gap in investor protection until the cryptocurrency market is regulated by law.
Such a center was needed because losses from crypto-related crimes have increased 118% in South Korea over the past five years, reaching 1.02 trillion won ($797.81 million) in 2022.
In addition, suspicious transactions considered to be related to crime on local cryptocurrency exchanges increased by 1.263% to 900 in 2022, from 66 in 2021.
The prosecution added that after the Terra (LUNA) crash last year, the cryptocurrency market shrank by 66%.
