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South Korea’s primary financial regulator and watchdog has ruled out regulating bitcoin trading in the country.
In a press conference today, the head of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) revealed no intention to regulate trading of cryptocurrencies in the country, for now. The primary reason, according to authority’s governor, is the lack of recognition of cryptocurrencies as money substitutes.
In statements reported by Reuters, FSS governor Choe Heung-sik stated today:
All we can do is to warn people as we don’t see virtual currencies as actual types of currency, meaning that we cannot step up regulation for now.
Curiously, the official went on to add that any regulations from the authority would only spur cryptocurrency trading by giving investors validation of the regulator’s ‘implicit approval’ of their status as a currency.
The remarks ring a similar tone to previous statements by the official in November when Choe revealed the regulator would not “directly supervise” cryptocurrency exchanges since cryptocurrencies nor digital tokens aren’t recognized as a “legitimate currency.”
As things stand, Korean authorities’ foray into overseeing the local bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry stops with a handful of rules, not regulations, announced last week. Furthermore, South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) is currently detailing a framework to enforce taxes on cryptocurrencies wherein adopters are likely to face capital gains taxes from cryptocurrency trading.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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