The cryptocurrency market is on its toes. Crypto is going through tough times with regulatory press and investigations from different parts of the world. This time, we witnessed an investigation in South Korea, which has a crypto-friendly image. South Korean prosecutors raided leading Bitcoin exchanges Upbit and Bithumb.
Two Bitcoin exchanges raided in South Korea
As cryptokoin.com reported, opposition lawmaker Kim Nam-Kuk is conducting an investigation into crypto assets. In this context, it prompted prosecutors to raid two of South Korea’s leading crypto exchanges. As part of an investigation into growing suspicions of opposition legislator Kim Nam-kuk’s crypto assets, prosecutors in South Korea raided two of the country’s local cryptocurrency exchanges on Monday. According to a report by Yonhap in South Korea, a group of detectives from the Seoul Southern District Procuratorate’s Office gathered transaction records and other information from Upbit and Bithumb.
These actions came at a time when Representative Kim came under fire in 2021 after it was revealed that he was in possession of approximately 800,000 Wemix cryptocurrencies, worth approximately $4.5 million at the time. However, this was a substantial sum that did not match Kim’s reputation as a frugal person. Therefore, various questions came to mind about the source of the money and whether it used confidential information. However, the Wemix team denied the accusations. He also published a blog post in response to this:
Reports that WeMade illegally support Wemix or provide inside information about investments to members of the National Assembly are completely false.
In addition, allegations emerged that Kim traded cryptocurrencies during the National Assembly’s judiciary committee meetings in May and November of the previous year.
Kim’s test with cryptocurrencies
On Monday, the ruling People’s Power Party announced that they will launch an internal task force to investigate Kim’s crypto transfers. The task force will be led by Representative Yun Chang-Hyeon, who heads the digital assets special committee with Kim Sung-won.
During his tenure, he advocated regulatory legislation that would recognize certain gaming tokens as cryptocurrencies. He also voted in favor of it. Meanwhile, Kim Nam-kuk submitted his resignation from the main opposition Democratic Party on Sunday.