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Upbit, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Korea, has stopped trading some virtual currencies or designated them as investment watchdogs, so-called 'coin cleanup'. However, investors are protesting because they only stated that they followed internal standards and did not provide a clear basis.



Reporter Jung Da-eun is on the sidewalk.



<Reporter> On



the 11th, Upbit designated 25 cryptocurrencies as stocks to be considered for investment, and 5 were subject to suspension of KRW trading.



Due to a surprise announcement without prior notice, prices plummeted by as much as 80% over the past weekend.



Upbit only stated the basis for the decision as "below internal standards", but did not provide specific explanations to convince investors of the criteria for stopping the transaction.



[Mr. Jeong / Virtual currency investor: There must have been reasons to designate a stock for investment, but I have never revealed such things until now... .]



Cryptocurrencies invested by Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, were also included in the suspension of KRW trading.



There is a backlash among investors over the behavior of Upbit, which secretly abolishes randomly listed virtual currencies.



[Mr. Jang / Virtual currency investor: You have to do what we tell you to do, because we abolish it this way. (Exchange) It's sacrificing individual investors for profit.]



It is pointed out that even though the cryptocurrency market has grown to the extent of trading more than 10 trillion won a day, there are no clear standards for listing or abolition procedures, so investors are exposed to these risks defenselessly.



[Park Seong-joon / Director of Dongguk University Blockchain Research Center: Cryptocurrency exchanges set their own standards. However, it has not yet been verified whether the standard is objective, valid, and reasonable.] As the



financial authorities conduct on-site consulting, such as checking the actual condition of exchanges, it is expected that exchanges will continue to extract coins.



(Video coverage: Kim Hak-mo, video editing: Lee Seung-yeol)