South Korea’s FSC Nominee Believes Cryptos Could Not Work as Currencies

Koh Seung-beom, the nominee for South Korea’s Financial Service Commission (FSC), has stated on Wednesday that recognizing cryptocurrencies as financial assets might be difficult. According to The Korea Times, Koh pointed out in a press briefing that he is not a believer in cryptos working as a currency by itself.

“I understand that the Group of 20, the International Monetary Fund, other international agencies and a considerable number of experts find it difficult to see virtual currencies as a financial asset, and think they could not function as a currency,” the nominee to lead the South Korean financial watchdog commented. He, in fact, commented that a future leadership on the FSC would put curbing a sustained increase in household debt in the top priority of his plan.

“The FSC will push ahead with existing anti-debt measures and come up with additional steps, if needed, by mobilizing all available policy means,” Koh added. The crypto-related comments come amid a booming interest among South Koreans towards digital assets’ investments due to the coronavirus crisis.

Also, the deadline to enact the new set of rulings on crypto exchanges and banks that deal with such companies on September 24 is approaching – a measure that has not been exempt from controversy within the domestic industry. Finance Magnates reported recently that overseas crypto exchanges seem to be distancing themselves from doing business in the country ahead of the new regulation.

What Do the New Rulings Say?

According to the new rulings supervised by the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), banks working with crypto exchanges should issue accounts with customers’ real names to prevent money laundering. However, as of press time, Upbit recently became the first South Korean cryptocurrency exchange for registering with the FIU ahead of the deadline.

Doh Gyu-sang, FSC chairman, commented that the agency expects to see the registry of one or two more exchanges by the end of August.

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