South Korea's Ruling party may allow trading of Spot ETFs on BTC
The ruling party of South Korea, the People's Power, will consider the possibility of allowing trading in spot bitcoin ETFs as part of the election campaign
South Korean media reports that the country's ruling party promises to include the issue of launching exchange-traded bitcoin (BTC) funds in the election campaign. In addition, politicians want to delay the introduction of a tax on profits from cryptocurrencies.
After the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States, the South Korean authorities announced that they would continue to adhere to the ban on launching such funds. At the same time, it later became known that the head of the Financial Supervision Service (FSS) of the country is going to talk about this with Gary Gensler.
As part of the election campaign, representatives of the "People's Power" also promised to consider legislative measures to approve other investment products based on cryptocurrencies. Parliamentary elections in South Korea will be held on April 10, 2024.
In addition, the ruling party plans to:
- to deal with the lifting of the ban on institutional investments in cryptocurrencies and initial exchange offerings (IEO);
- to form a Committee for the promotion of digital assets, which will be able to propose bills related to cryptocurrency, or impose sanctions on crypto companies.
Today, on February 19, a local news outlet also reported that the "People's Power" may postpone the bill on the introduction of a tax on digital assets until 2027. It was originally planned to be adopted in 2025.
Officials noted that there is no regulatory framework for the crypto industry in South Korea yet. In their opinion, first we need to create a common framework, and only then — tax issues.
The tax base plan for the crypto market was announced back in January 2021. According to the presented rules, crypto investors whose profit for the year exceeds 2.5 million won ($1,900) must pay a tax of 20%. However, the implementation of the initiative was constantly postponed. According to estimates by representatives of the ruling party, it will take two years to create a tax base.
In recent months, Seoul has been actively tightening the regulation of the crypto industry in the country. So, the South Korean authorities plan to create two special bureaus for the supervision of the crypto market in the near future.
In addition, in December, the FSC published a legislative notice with the provisions of the cryptocurrency law, which is expected this summer. A number of requirements have been imposed on cryptoplatforms. Another notification to this law was its recent update. According to the amendments, attackers will face a life sentence for crypto crimes in South Korea.
