South Korea has elected Yoon Suk-yeol as the country’s next president. Yoon is a known crypto-friendly candidate who has pledged to overhaul “unreasonable” crypto regulations in the country. “We must overhaul regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable,” Yoon reportedly said earlier this year during his campaign. He added that South Korea should embrace a “negative regulation system” to ensure the crypto market “has no worries.”
South Korea has witnessed several regulatory controversies.
Yoon’s presidential success comes at a time when South Korea’s relationship with the crypto industry has featured several regulatory controversies. As reported earlier last month in March, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it wanted to crack down on crypto companies that weren’t doing enough to combat money laundering. Starting April 20, 2021, exchanges would face fines of between $26,000 to $52,000 if they did not report suspicious activity or maintain a log-on transaction. In June last year, South Korean crypto exchanges faced a major regulatory blow when the FSC said it would prevent cross-trading on platforms.
South Korea continues to embrace cryptocurrencies.
Yoon was not the only pro-crypto candidate in the Presidential race. Lee Jae-myung, another presidential candidate in South Korea’s race, turned to NFTs to fundraise his election campaign. “As the young generation in their 20s and 30s are interested in emerging technologies, including virtual assets, NFTs and the metaverse, this type of fundraising could appeal to them,” a Lee campaign official had told local Yonhap News earlier this year. “It is high time that we undertake innovative experiments to enhance our understanding of these future technologies and change perceptions of digital currencies and NFTs,” Lee added.
