A South Korean court has sentenced four members of a crypto trading gang for illegal activities involving crypto and foreign currency laws. The ringleader, aged 43, received a three and a half year prison term for organizing operations exploiting the ‘kimchi premium’. This highlights the country’s stringent measures against illegal crypto activities.

The gang profited from the ‘kimchi premium’, a phenomenon where South Korean exchanges trade crypto at higher prices due to HIGH retail demand. They illegally smuggled approximately 273.74 million USD back to Japan, using fake invoices and contracts to deceive banks and authorities. This underscores the risks and legal consequences of exploiting such market anomalies.