South Korean regulators have accused the Sui Foundation of manipulating the token supply for its own gain, sending the Sui native SUI token tumbling more than 9 percent.
After dropping from $0.41 on October 16 to new lows of $0.37 on October 18, the SUI token has gained less than 1% in the last 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, current prices represent a drop of 7% in just two days.
The Sui Foundation, the group behind the layer-1 blockchain Sui, called the charges of supply manipulation “unfounded and materially false” in a post to X (previously known as Twitter) on October 18.
“We want to address some inaccuracies that have been reported today,” the Sui Foundation said.
“We must address the baseless and demonstrably incorrect claims made about the availability of SUI tokens. After the initial distributions through the Community Access Program (CAP), the Foundation has never sold SUI tokens. Simply put.”
According to “the circulating supply schedule displayed on the Sui Foundation public website and available through the public API endpoints is accurate.”
South Korean news portals TechM and Block Media reported that South Korean regulators had initiated an investigation into the Sui Foundation, prompting this resolute post from the Sui Foundation.
After claims were made by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Representative Min Byeong-deok, the South Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) reportedly announced it would soon initiate an investigation into the distribution of the Sui token.
To earn interest, the Sui Foundation, according to Representative Min, staked coins that belonged in the non-circulating supply.
In the five months after its initial public offering, it has dropped by more than 67%. Rep. Min argued that the issuer, the Sui Foundation, has an incentive to boost its own circulation by selling the locked-up funds after staking (depositing) them.
The value of the Sui token, according to Representative Min, was artificially depressed since the foundation “lied about the amount in circulation.”
After the failure of Do Kwon’s Terra Money ecosystem in May 2022, lawmakers in South Korea increased their efforts to properly regulate crypto activity in the country. In light of this, the FSS plans to introduce a sweeping piece of crypto law as early as January of next year.