South Korea’s financial watchdog has broadened its use of artificial intelligence to monitor digital asset markets, moving toward more automated, data-driven enforcement as trading becomes more complex. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it upgraded its Virtual Assets Intelligence System for Trading Analysis (VISTA), adding an automated detection algorithm that can identify potential price-manipulation periods without manual intervention. The new model uses a sliding-window grid search to examine every possible sub-period in a trading dataset, enabling exhaustive detection of suspicious time windows investigators previously had to find by hand. In tests on closed cases, the upgraded system identified all manipulation periods found in earlier probes and flagged additional suspicious intervals missed by traditional methods. The FSS secured a 170 million won (about $116,000) budget for 2026 to further advance AI capabilities; enhancements will be rolled out in stages through the end of 2026. Planned additions include automated identification of coordinated trading account networks, large-scale analysis of abnormal trading-related text across thousands of crypto assets, and tools to trace the origins of funds used in manipulation. The upgrade fits broader regulatory efforts: reports said the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is considering a pre-emptive payment suspension system to block transactions before suspects can launder illicit proceeds, and the Korea Exchange will deploy an AI-driven market monitoring system to improve early detection of stock price manipulation. This report was produced in accordance with the publisher’s editorial policy; readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Sponsors
Loading sponsors...