Sui token struggles to regain despite denial of ‘unfounded’ allegations

Sui’s native SUI token has struggled to regain ground after plunging more than 9% amid allegations from South Korean regulators, which have accused the Sui Foundation of manipulating the supply of the token for its own gain. 

SUI token gained a little under 1% in the last 24 hours after falling from $0.41 on Oct. 16 to new lows of $0.37 on Oct. 18. Current prices mark a 7% decline in just two days, according to data from CoinGecko.

In an Oct. 18 post to X (formerly Twitter), the Sui Foundation — the organization behind layer-1 blockchain Sui — slammed the allegations of supply manipulation as “unfounded and materially false.”

“We want to address some inaccuracies that have been reported today,” said the Sui Foundation.

“The unfounded and materially false statements surrounding the supply of SUI tokens need to be addressed. There has never been any sale of SUI tokens by the Foundation after the initial Community Access Program (CAP) distributions. Period,” it explained.

We want to address some inaccuracies that have been reported today.

Sui Foundation has been and remains committed to cooperating with DAXA and its member exchanges in the spirit of full compliance and transparency.

The unfounded and materially false statements surrounding the…

— Sui Foundation (@SuiFoundation) October 17, 2023

“The circulating supply schedule displayed on the Sui Foundation public website and available through the public API endpoints is accurate.”

The Sui Foundation’s stalwart post came in response to reports from South Korean news outlets TechM and Block Media, which said that regulators from the country had launched an investigation into the Sui Foundation.

According to the reports, the South Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it would soon launch an investigation into the distribution of the Sui token following allegations made by Representative Min Byeong-deok, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea.

Related: South Korea focuses on OTC crypto regulations as unlawful deals reach $4B

Min claimed that the Sui Foundation had paid itself interest by staking coins that should have remained in the non-circulating supply.

“It has fallen more than 67% in the five months since listing. The issuer, Sui Foundation, received self-interest by staking (depositing) the locked-up amount and sold it to increase circulation,” Min added.

Additionally, Min alleged that the reason why the Sui token had plummeted was because the foundation had “lied about the amount in circulation.”

South Korean lawmakers have ramped up their efforts to better regulate crypto activity in the country following the collapse of Do Kwon’s Terra Money ecosystem in May 2022. As such, the FSS expects to introduce a comprehensive set of crypto legislation as early as January 2023.

Cointelegraph contacted the Sui Foundation for further comment but did not receive an immediate response.

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