South Korea’s integrated financial regulator – Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) – is reportedly investigating domestic and commercial banks after detecting a significant amount of illegal overseas remittance transactions. Over the last few weeks, banks’ role in facilitating kimchi premium traders to enable fast money when trading volumes rise has been under intense scrutiny. It was...Read More
CryptoCom – received Electronic Financial Transaction Act and Virtual Asset Service Provider registration from the South Korean regulators after acquiring the payment service provider – PnLink Co. – and the digital asset firm – OK-BIT Co. CryptoCom’s latest approval in the East Asian country could be considered a fresh breath of air since it has...Read More
The South Korean Ministry of Justice reportedly approved the prosecutors’ request that the notorious Co-Founder of Terraform Labs – Do Kwon – be ordered to notify authorities when he returns to his country. He is believed to be currently residing in Singapore. The Prosecution Wants to Hold Kwon Accountable The collapse of Terra’s native token...Read More
As part of the broader investigation of fraud, South Korean prosecutors have raided the house of Terraform Labs’ co-founder, Daniel Shin. Bloomberg confirmed a series of raids conducted by the Korean Joint Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Team on crypto exchanges and offices, including the Terra co-founder’s residence and his payment app Chai Corp. over...Read More
In a tax reform introduced on Thursday, the South Korean government proposed to postpone the planned 20% tax on crypto earnings for two years. If accepted, crypto earnings in South Korea will be taxed from 2025. The tax plans for the digital asset sector were originally to kick in from January 2022. But in December...Read More
Dunamu – the company behind South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Upbit – plans to invest 500 billion won ($380 million) in the next five years and create approximately 10,000 new job positions. Expansion Amid the Crypto Winter The bear market and the outflow of investors’ interest in the industry have caused numerous companies to reduce...Read More
The largest mobile operator in South Korea – SK Telecom – reportedly joined forces with crypto firms AhnLab Blockchain Company and Atomrigs Labs to release a digital wallet. The feature will provide cryptocurrency services and access to the Web3 ecosystem. According to a recent report, users of the wallet will be able to receive, transfer,...Read More
In the aftermath of Terra’s historic debacle, regulatory scrutiny targetting the stablecoin industry through cooperative measures across borders has become urgent to authorities worldwide. According to a recent report, South Korean Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon has discussed with US officials potentially enhancing cooperation in fighting against security fraud and financial crimes. Strengthening Ties on Crypto...Read More
The notorious hacker collective – Anonymous – said it will join numerous governments that are conducting investigations against Terra’s Co-Founder – Do Kwon. The native token of the cryptocurrency project – LUNA – and its algorithmic stablecoin – UST – crashed to zero last month, resulting in painful investors’ losses. As such, Anonymous vowed to...Read More
Without divulging any names, a South Korean media agency reported that the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office’s Joint Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Team has banned a key Terra designer from leaving the country. The team has been investigating Terraform Labs, its employees, and founding members after the stunning collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and its...Read More
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it is considering relaunching its services in South Korea 17 months after the platform stopped serving traders in the country. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) revealed the company’s intentions to Korean media Maeil Economic Daily at the VivaTech 2022 event in France. Binance Considers South Korea Re-entry This is the...Read More
In the latest example of global authorities going after Terraform Labs, the organization’s co-founder, Do Kwon, will reportedly be investigated for tax evasion in South Korea. According to local reports, prosecutors carried out a search and seizure from the Seoul Regional Tax Office and were able to secure data from a special investigation by the...Read More
The five leading cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea – Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax – will reportedly set up a joint consultative body that will oversee the local digital asset market, scheduled to go live during the second half of 2022. Trying to Prevent Another Accident Like Terra A local media revealed that Korea’s...Read More
Korean crypto exchanges Upbit and Bithumb announced in public notices to users that they will drop Litecoin (LTC). Upbit will stop trading pairs with Litecoin on June 20th and give users one month from then to withdraw the asset. Bithumb has already stopped accepting LTC deposits as of June 8th. Furthermore, the exchange is giving...Read More
A recent court ruling has granted an application by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to order Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon to comply with the agency’s investigative subpoenas. Court Rules in Favor of the SEC The United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit made the ruling on Wednesday (June 8,...Read More
TerraUSD and its sister token LUNA Classic’s (LUNA) dramatic collapse have pushed the South Korean policymakers to call for swift crypto regulations. Call for Draft Regulation According to a new report, top officials have now asked cryptocurrency exchanges to devise guidelines with respect to the listing and delisting of digital tokens to safeguard the investors...Read More
South Korean police are reportedly looking to freeze assets associated with the non-profit organization Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) following the eventful collapse of Terra (LUNA). According to South Korea’s national broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), on Monday (May 23, 2022), the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency asked several exchanges in the country to prevent LFG from...Read More
Two leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges, UpBit and Bithumb, have issued a warning for Litecoin after the activation of MimbleWimble Extension Blocks (MWEB). Growing Concerns UpBit revealed terminating “transaction support for digital assets with technology that makes transmission records indistinguishable from the past” while pointing to Korea’s Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific...Read More
South Korea’s National Tax Service has reportedly ordered Terraform Labs, its co-founder Do Kwon, and other executives to pay a 100 billion won ($78 million) fine for tax evasion penalties. The Genesis According to local reports, the tax agency first launched an investigation into Terraform Labs and its subsidiaries in June last year on suspicion...Read More
Do Kwon, perhaps the most notorious name in the cryptocurrency industry in the past few weeks, might have to appear in front of the South Korean government in a hearing on the UST crash. According to the local report, Yun Chang-hyun, a rep from the nation’s ruling People Power Party, has requested a parliamentary hearing...Read More
The catastrophic failure of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), last week exacerbated the chaos in the crypto industry and accelerated plans to regulate the stablecoins market. Following the market meltdown, global financial regulators started proposing different legislations to regulate stablecoins better and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. UK to Legalize and Regulate...Read More
The new government of South Korea will reportedly finalize the regulatory framework on the local digital asset ecosystem next year and enforce it in 2024. The legislation will aim to incorporate cryptocurrencies like bitcoin into the country’s institutional system. In addition, the authorities have greenlighted the Bank of Korea’s efforts to launch a CBDC in...Read More
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is reportedly ready to impose tougher regulations on Dunama – the parent company of the country’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit – by classifying it as a “large enterprise.” The authority deems firms with more than 5 trillion won ($4.03 billion) assets subject to stricter regulatory scrutiny, requiring them to...Read More
Hyundai Motor Company will become the first automaker to hop on the community non-fungible token (NFT) market. The organization will launch 30 limited digital collectibles in collaboration with the NFT brand “Meta Kongz.” Another Well-Known Name Joining the NFT Craze The South Korean car giant – Hyundai Motor Company – released a film depicting the...Read More
South Korea’s National Tax Agency’s chairman Kim Dae-Ji held a meeting this week with tax executives from Bulgaria and Britain to discuss the “rise of tax-dodging schemes” through the use of digital assets. As per a report from a local news outlet, the National Tax Agency plans to further cooperate with Bulgaria and Britain to...Read More
South Korea-headquartered LG Electronics has added blockchain and cryptocurrency to its business portfolio. LG’s Blockchain and Crypto Game Plans At the Annual General Meeting on March 24, LG Electronics’ shareholders approved “blockchain-based software” development and “sale and brokerage of cryptocurrency” as two new business areas. Although LG has included the sale and brokerage of cryptocurrency...Read More
Yoon Suk-Yeol – a member of the Conservative party – won the South Korean presidential election. The new political leader of the East Asian country has demonstrated a pro-crypto stance. Not long ago, he vowed to increase the minimum threshold for paying capital gains tax on profits from digital asset investments. South Korea to Become...Read More
Some of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea reportedly joined the growing number of global sanctions against Putin’s regime by blocking IP addresses from Russia. Among those trading venues are Upbit, Gopax, Bithumb, and Korbit. South Korea’s Sanctions to Russia The list of embargoes imposed on Russia keeps enlarging as the latest example came...Read More
An established player in Metaverse, The Sandbox, is betting big on the technology and is all set to expand business in the metaverse with Cube Entertainment. The partnership aims to promote K-culture content globally via operating virtual space and developing digital assets. The Sandbox-Cube Partnership According to the official blog post, the joint initiative will concentrate...Read More
One of the leading financial institutions in South Korea – Kookmin Bank (KB) – intends to offer cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and futures products to retail investors. If successful, it will become the first local bank to do so. First Crypto ETFs in South Korea Cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are financial instruments that track the...Read More
