Ruling Party: "Cryptocurrency Investors Must Be Protected" vs Opposition: "Concept Establishment Comes First"

與 "Efforts Needed to Ensure Market Transparency and Transaction Stability"
野 "Government and Ruling Party Show Discord in Cryptocurrency Policy"

On the afternoon of the 27th, real-time prices of Bitcoin and others are displayed on the price board at Bithumb Gangnam Center in Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] The political sphere continues to debate over cryptocurrency issues. The ruling party emphasizes the need to establish investor protection measures and has moved to mitigate controversies surrounding Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo's remarks about "shutting down exchanges." Meanwhile, the opposition party criticized the government and ruling party for showing confusion without even setting a basic policy direction on cryptocurrency.

On the 27th, Hong Ik-pyo, Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, opened the floor at the floor leaders' meeting held at the National Assembly, saying, "As virtual assets are utilized as a new investment tool, the need for a meticulous policy approach for participants in the virtual asset market is growing."

He added, "In particular, investor protection through strict punishment of illegal activities such as illegal multi-level marketing, money laundering, and investment fraud is very important, and efforts to secure market transparency and transaction stability are more necessary than ever," emphasizing, "The Democratic Party will closely monitor the virtual asset market situation and work with the government to prepare necessary legal and institutional measures."

He also appeared on KBS Radio's 'Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current Affairs' and explained Chairman Eun Sung-soo's mention of the possibility of closing cryptocurrency exchanges by saying, "Virtual assets are currently not included under the Capital Markets Act. Therefore, he was saying that these are assets that he cannot protect or manage."

Policy Chair Hong said, "The statement that (Chairman Eun) cannot protect virtual assets should not be overinterpreted as if it itself is illegal," adding, "Gambling is an illegal act, but virtual assets are seen as a kind of new form of economic activity."

Earlier, on the 22nd, Chairman Eun stated at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee full meeting that cryptocurrencies are "unacceptable currencies" with no intrinsic value and said that cryptocurrency investors cannot be regarded as 'investors,' thus the government's concept of 'investor protection' cannot be established.

Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the other hand, the opposition party launched a fierce attack, saying the government does not even know whether to regard cryptocurrency as a financial product.

Seong Il-jong, head of the ruling party's cryptocurrency task force (TF) and a member of the People Power Party, appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the same day and pointed out, "Isn't it that the government has not even established a concept of how to view cryptocurrency? As a result, there are issues such as whether to tax or not, whether to close exchanges or not."

He continued, "The government should first establish the concept and consider whether to view this as an industry or as a financial product," and said, "Please state the government's basic direction first."

Kim Seong-won, the party's floor deputy leader, also criticized at the floor leaders' meeting, saying, "The government and the Democratic Party are out of sync regarding policies surrounding cryptocurrencies (virtual currencies)," adding, "The public watching this is bursting with frustration."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.