The newly appointed governor of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has hinted on the regulator’s plans to ease cryptocurrency regulations in the country, The Korea Times reported.
"Regarding cryptocurrencies, there are some positive aspects," Governor Yoon Suk-heun said. "The FSS will collaborate with the FSC [Financial Services Commission] when an inspection on policies and financial institutions has different configurations associated with different scopes. FSC inspects policies, while the FSS examines and supervises financial institutions but with the oversight of the FSC.”
While he did not comment on the methodologies that would be adopted by the regulator for domestic crypto exchanges, Yoon said that better regulation would facilitate a more stable financial system.
South Korea, the third largest market for cryptocurrencies, banned cryptocurrency trading using anonymous accounts earlier this year. Under the new measures, only accounts with real usernames will be allowed to be used in cryptocurrency trading.
"The daily transactions of cryptocurrencies plummeted to around 400 billion won from 4 trillion won before the financial regulators implement the new regulation," said Lee Jeong-ah, vice president of Bithumb (as quoted by The Korea Times).
A group of Korean lawmakers is also reportedly working on a bill to lift the ban imposed on Initial Coin Offerings last year, subject to certain conditions.
"We don't oppose regulations. But you can't entirely kill the markets by simply imposing regulations. What the new FSS chief should think about is how the regulators should provide remedies to help crypto trading and blockchain technology get better," an Upbit official said.
