Digital assets, which are the focus of attention of the whole world, have become an important investment asset day by day. South Korea was one of the countries where investors showed great interest in cryptocurrencies. This laid the groundwork for the preparation of institutional infrastructure for cryptocurrencies in the country.
South Korean stock exchange Korea Exchange (KRX) CEO, Sohn Byung-doo, in his speech at the 2021 Global ETP Conference, drew attention to the need to protect investors in the crypto money market and to make necessary regulations in this context.
Saying that crypto money markets are no different from capital markets, KRX CEO stated that it is now necessary to understand how we should adopt digital assets.
Stating that local financial authorities do not agree with the views that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies should be evaluated outside the field of finance, Sohn Byung-doo pointed out that the number of users of the domestic cryptocurrency exchange has exceeded 5 million.
The CEO also stated that the daily trading volume of cryptocurrency exchanges has reached 14 trillion won (approximately 12 billion USD), while the daily trading volume of Capital markets is approaching 19 trillion won (approximately 16.1 USD).
“As crypto assets are becoming major investment assets, it is time to lay out an institutional framework.”
South Korea already classifies cryptocurrencies as intangible assets such as computer software or patents and plans to tax cryptocurrencies winnings in cases where the source of the winnings is unclear, such as the lottery.
In this context, South Korea has recently announced that it has postponed the taxation rules for cryptocurrencies, which will be effective from January 2022, until January 2013.
*Not investment advice.