South Korean regulators have recently taken new actions. According to reports, the Korea Financial Commission is advancing the "Virtual Asset Phase Two Legislation," which plans to introduce a new "payment suspension" system. What is the core feature of this system? Simply put, regulators can freeze accounts suspected of manipulating the virtual asset market directly before criminal judgments are made, preventing suspects from transferring assets or cashing out unrealized profits.

This idea didn't come out of nowhere. Korea had already implemented a similar freezing mechanism in stock market manipulation cases back in 2023, and now plans to extend this approach to the cryptocurrency sector. In other words, once officially implemented, Korea will become one of the few countries in the world able to freeze accounts in the early stages of criminal proceedings. What are the benefits of this? Increased efficiency, faster response times, and a significantly stronger deterrent against market manipulation behaviors such as pump-and-dump schemes and false trading.

For trading platforms operating in Korea, the days may become more challenging. After the new regulations are enforced, exchanges will need to allocate more resources to strengthen risk control and compliance systems, and regulatory monitoring and reporting requirements will also be heightened. It is foreseeable that the pressure on risk management and legal teams working in virtual asset exchanges will only increase in the future.