The South Korean government has been on a determined path to accelerate crypto legislation in the country.
On May 31, in the wake of the Terra collapse that had left significant impacts on the whole crypto industry, the South Korean government aims to launch a brand new Digital Asset Committee in the first half of June.
According to the official statement, the government intends to accelerate the development of a new regulatory body to oversee the cryptocurrency industry. Also, until the Framework Act for Digital Assets is approved, the Committee will be in charge of policy development and monitoring.
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A professor at coeducational South Korean-based university Dongguk University Hwang Seok-jin implied that “a ministry should be established to protect digital asset investors at the same level of stock investor protection.”
Seok-jin also stated that South Korea's daily crypto trading activity is similar to the Kosdaq stock market, meaning that the sector should be regulated similarly to regular stocks. He continued and stated:
“As of the end of last year, the daily transaction amount of virtual assets was 11.3 trillion won, which is similar to the average of KOSDAQ daily transactions, but there is no investor protection due to the absence of the system.”
On top of that, the watchdog will be responsible for establishing coin-listing requirements, investigating unfair commercial practices, and regulating investor protection measures. The committee will also work with a group composed of the South Korean crypto exchanges, including Coinone, Cobit, Bithumb, Gopax, and Bithumb.
In fact, back in January, Bithumb, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014, announced that it would stop supporting withdrawals from unauthorized wallets.
Interestingly enough, almost for 5 years now, South Korea has been prohibited from launching any tokens in the country. However, numerous large organizations are anxious to issue their own currencies, including the Korean conglomerate and the second-largest chaebol in South Korea dubbed SK, which is already planning to introduce its own tokens.