Lee Eok-won, the nominee for chairman of South Korea’s Monetary Providers Fee (FSC), has made harshly essential remarks about cryptocurrency.
In accordance with a Monday report by native information outlet News1, Lee mentioned that “crypto has excessive value volatility, lacks financial operate” and has “no intrinsic worth.” He additionally wrote in solutions questions submitted by lawmakers forward of his affirmation listening to that “digital belongings differ from conventional monetary merchandise like deposits and securities in that they don’t have any intrinsic worth.”
Lee defined that the volatility of cryptocurrencies makes it laborious to think about them performing as a retailer of worth or medium of change. The report notes that the remarks attracted criticism from South Korea’s crypto trade.
An nameless South Korean crypto firm official, quoted by News1, mentioned that crypto missing intrinsic worth is unsuitable “when the US and international firms are holding it as a strategic reserve.” The official claimed that “belongings like Bitcoin have digital utility backed by blockchain safety and transferability.”
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Future FSC’s chief crypto regulatory outlook
Lee additionally took a stance towards permitting crypto investments by pension funds. He defined that “given the excessive volatility and speculative nature of digital belongings, there may be widespread concern about utilizing retirement or private pension funds, which are supposed to guarantee a steady revenue in previous age, to put money into them.”
The FSC chief nominee additionally famous that, with regards to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), “there are each expectations and issues.” He mentioned that the regulatory physique he’ll head will “evaluate international regulatory traits” and decide the implementation method and timeline in session with lawmakers.
Nonetheless, with regards to stablecoins, Lee mentioned that the FSC would search to create alternatives for innovation whereas making certain sufficient safeguards. This follows late June stories that eight main banks in South Korea are engaged on a stablecoin backed by the received after newly elected President Lee Jae-myung campaigned on a listing of crypto guarantees — together with permitting the issuance of stablecoins.
South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups additionally introduced plans to carry restrictions stopping crypto-related companies from qualifying as enterprise corporations in early July. This could permit crypto corporations to be categorised as enterprise companies for the primary time since they had been excluded in 2018.
South Korean youth bets on crypto
These remarks come after knowledge from the top of March confirmed that crypto change customers in South Korea have surpassed 16 million, following a surge of their quantity after US President Donald Trump’s election. This represents over 30% of South Korea’s whole inhabitants.
Nonetheless, some recommend that this isn’t merely a consequence of many among the many native inhabitants deeply believing within the potential of blockchain expertise. Throughout a late June crypto occasion, Eli Ilha Yune, chief product officer at quantum machine studying startup Anzaetek, urged that the “motive comes not from […] a perception in Web3 […] like within the West.”
Yune urged that, as an alternative, South Korean crypto adoption is a consequence of the monetary desperation afflicting the youthful technology. In accordance with him, this case pushes them to hunt “fast cash.”
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