South Korean lawmakers are pushing for stricter regulation of digital assets following a gruesome murder involving digital assets.
A South Korean woman was kidnapped on March 29 and subsequently murdered in a dispute believed to have stemmed from a disagreement over cryptocurrency-related losses, according to a May 18 Bloomberg report adding to a string of tensions with digital currencies. lated scandals, including the collapse of Do Kwon's Terra currency ecosystem last May. The recent murders reportedly added to the urgency for lawmakers to speed up work on the country's first standalone crypto bill, which could be passed in a parliamentary vote later this month.
“The two parties have finally reached a consensus that we need to enact a law as soon as possible,” Baek Hye-yun, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, told Bloomberg. “There are so many issues that it makes sense to focus on one thing first - investor protection - in order to act quickly," she added.
The new anticipated bill, called the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, would pack a total of 19 different crypto-related measures into a single bill. The legislation outlines a clear legal definition of virtual assets and imposes penalties for violations such as in sider trading and market manipulation, according to a version of the draft bill seen by Bloomberg. Additionally, the new bill will empower the country's Financial Services Commission to oversee crypto companies and custody of assets.
The bill would also require digital asset firms to purchase insurance to protect themselves from hackers, as well as stricter regulations on reserve and account management. The rules would apply to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, while existing capital market laws would apply to tokens deemed securities by the government.
