[Crosscheck 3] News Revision

[News revision!!!!] The People Power Party’s “Stocks and Digital Assets Value-Up Special Committee” publicly challenged the government over the direction of regulation surrounding the digital asset industry. The committee argued that excessively restricting a digital asset market that has grown under private-sector leadership through administrative regulation could undermine the industry’s competitiveness.

The People Power Party’s Stocks and Digital Assets Value-Up Special Committee on the 14th held a “Digital Asset Industry Policy Roundtable” at Dreamplus in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

In opening remarks, committee chair Kim Sang-hoon said, “Since the previous administration, discussions on revitalizing the asset market have continued through party-government consultations,” adding, “However, the government has consistently shown a hesitant stance toward market revitalization, citing reasons such as anti-money laundering (AML).”

He noted, “The digital asset market is, in both name and reality, an industry formed on the basis of numerous achievements built up by the private sector,” but added, “Nevertheless, with the 2018 controversy over shutting down exchanges and the so-called ‘Park Sang-ki turmoil,’ remarks such as ‘virtual assets have no intrinsic value’ continued, and policy signals that seemed to deny the private sector’s accumulated achievements were repeated, causing the market to contract sharply.”

He continued, “Over the same period, major countries overseas have steadily laid the institutional groundwork to foster the digital asset market as next-generation financial infrastructure,” adding, “As a result, the standing of digital assets in the global financial order has risen significantly.”

He also delivered pointed criticism of the “20% cap on major shareholders’ stakes in virtual asset service providers,” which has recently triggered strong backlash from the digital asset industry.

Kim said, “I heard news that a government proposal to limit major shareholders’ stakes in asset exchanges to 20% is at the submission stage,” adding, “I understand that representatives from exchanges and the fintech industry will also convey concerns about this.”

He emphasized, “We must seriously reflect on what it means for the Korean market to restrict achievements built by the private sector through administrative regulation,” adding, “There is a need to reconsider whether forced dispersion of shareholdings is truly a direction that enhances industrial competitiveness and investment incentives.”