ZK tokens surge nearly 10 times, prompting regulatory action! South Korea's FSS conducts emergency monitoring, market manipulation suspicion arises again

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea has issued a risk alert regarding extreme fluctuations in the price of the ZK token and has initiated real-time monitoring and investigation procedures. The token experienced a sharp surge in a short period without warning, then quickly fell back, causing significant market sentiment volatility and once again drawing attention to the stability of South Korea’s crypto asset market.

According to disclosures from regulatory authorities, ZK initially traded around 33 Korean Won, then was rapidly pushed up to nearly 350 Won in less than three hours, with a maximum increase of nearly 1000%, while trading volume expanded simultaneously. Notably, this surge occurred during a system maintenance window, when market depth was clearly insufficient, and a small amount of capital could cause large price jumps. After maintenance ended, the price quickly retreated, forming a typical “rise—dump” pattern.

FSS pointed out that a sudden drop in liquidity combined with concentrated buying and selling may have amplified manipulation effects. Authorities have already begun examining related wallet addresses, transaction paths, and chronological sequences, focusing on whether there are patterns of false transactions or coordinated price inflation. Regulators also require platforms to provide complete logs to restore the flow of funds and details of order matching.

On the technical level, FSS has recently activated the AI-based VISTA monitoring system. This platform scans for abnormal fluctuations in real-time using a sliding window algorithm and compares them with historical manipulation cases, enabling earlier warnings. Officials stated that such tools will become an integral part of routine supervision to more quickly identify high-risk trading behaviors.

This incident also serves as a wake-up call for South Korea’s crypto market. As regulatory intensity increases, tokens with weaker liquidity and lacking fundamental support will face stricter scrutiny. For investors, short-term surges do not equate to value appreciation, and extreme volatility often signals higher uncertainty. FSS emphasized that it will continue to strengthen compliance and risk control requirements to prevent similar events from disrupting market order again.