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| The price chart of Luna cryptocurrencies is seen on the screen of bithumb's customer service in Seoul, May 17. Yonhap |
The financial authorities have launched "emergency" inspections into domestic cryptocurrency exchange operators to enhance investor protection after the recent collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies, sources said Tuesday.
The move came after TerraUSD and its sister coin Luna tumbled, causing massive losses to investors and sending shockwaves across the world.
They were invented by a Korean national but traded globally, with Luna designed to be tied to TerraUSD, also known as "stablecoin," pegged one-to-one with the U.S dollar.
According to the industry sources, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) have recently asked local cryptocurrency exchange operators to share information on transactions linked to TerraUSD and Luna, including the volumes of their trading, their closing prices and the number of relevant investors.
The regulators have also asked them to come up with countermeasures to the recent market crash and analyses on what caused it, they added.
"Last week, the financial authorities asked for data on the amount of transactions and investors, and sized up the exchanges' relevant measures," an official of a local cryptocurrency exchange operator said. "I think they did it to draw up measures to minimize the damage to investors in the future."
Market observers estimate that around $45 billion has evaporated over the past week globally due to the crypto market downfall. About 200,000 investors in Korea are presumed to have invested in TerraUSD and Luna. (Yonhap)
