4th January 2025 – (Seoul) Two South Korean men have been arrested for allegedly manipulating the price of the Fusionist token, ACE, on the Bithumb crypto exchange, reportedly netting nearly $5 million. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Virtual Asset Joint Investigation Team detained Lee, a 33-year-old CEO of a virtual asset operator, along with a former employee, Kang.
The duo has been charged with price manipulation and breaching the South Korean Virtual Asset User Protection Act. Their actions reportedly involved submitting false buy and sell orders to artificially inflate the price of ACE, which is exclusively listed on Bithumb in South Korea.
According to an investigation led by Chief Park Geon-wook, Lee and Kang sold approximately 1.22 million ACE tokens, generating a profit of around 7.1 billion won (approximately $4.8 million). Authorities became suspicious when the trading volume of the Fusionist token surged nearly 15 times in a single day, rising to about 2.45 million tokens on July 22, 2024.
This case has been prioritised by the South Korean Financial Services Commission, which classified it as a “Fast Track” case for processing on October 25, 2024, due to alleged violations of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.
As of now, ACE has seen a slight decrease of 0.3% in the last 24 hours, though it has risen by 1.1% over the past week. However, the token has plummeted nearly 75% over the past year, currently holding a market cap of around $92 million and a fully diluted valuation of $319 million.
ACE was first launched on Bithumb in August 2024 at an initial price of approximately 3,722 won ($2.53). Recently, its global trading volume has decreased by 15% from the previous day, amounting to $7.8 million in the last 24 hours, indicating a dip in market activity.
