At the end of this month, an amendment bill for the Electronic Financial Transaction Act will be introduced by Rep. Park Yong-jin, a member of the Democratic Party, as he stated, “ Korea still has no legal basis of definition for virtual currency so It cannot support and nurture it.
Just one day before Park’s public hearing, South Korea’s former deputy finance minister and the nominee to become the country’s top financial regulator, Choi Jong-gu, gave a progress report on digital currency to Parliament. Choi served in the finance ministry for about three decades and was recently picked by President Moon Jae-in to head the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
Responding to Parliament’s inquiries at the hearing which took place at the National Assembly, Choi explained that the government has not set up any regulatory system for digital currencies. “We are starting discussions with other relevant ministries such as the Financial Supervisory Commission and we need in-depth research,” he said, as
Meanwhile, South Korea has recently legalized bitcoin international transfers in order to boost the fintech sector. The move came soon after cryptocurrency trading volumes strongly surged in the country, and an official task force was set up to determine if bitcoin should be regulated at all.
