Financial Services Commission to Oversee Virtual Assets... "Prohibition on Brokerage and Mediation of Self-Issued Coins"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] The Financial Services Commission has been designated as the main government agency to manage and supervise the virtual asset market, including Bitcoin.

On the afternoon of the 28th, the government announced the "Virtual Asset Transaction Management Plan" at the Seoul Government Complex, which includes this decision. The main point of this plan is to designate the Financial Services Commission as the primary agency for virtual assets and to focus all efforts on preventing illegal activities caused by the expanding market size.

The government plans to promote the management, supervision, and institutional improvements of virtual asset service providers to enhance transaction transparency under the leadership of the Financial Services Commission.

The Financial Services Commission will first take charge of managing, supervising, and improving the system for virtual asset service providers to enhance transaction transparency. In this process, the Commission plans to strengthen related organizations and personnel.

By the end of September, the Financial Services Commission intends to revise the enforcement decree of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (Special Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, or the Special Financial Transactions Act) to prohibit virtual asset service providers from directly mediating or brokering the buying, selling, or exchanging of virtual assets they have issued themselves. Additionally, an amendment banning virtual asset service providers and their employees from trading virtual assets through the respective providers will also be pursued.

Furthermore, the Commission is considering raising the cold wallet storage ratio, which ensures the safe custody of virtual assets against hacking and other risks, to over 70%.

A Financial Services Commission official stated, "The matter of reinforcing virtual asset organizations and personnel needs to be discussed with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in the future," and added, "The management of virtual asset service providers will be primarily led by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)."

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