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Bank of Korea Governor Changryong Lee announced on the 25th that the base interest rate will be lowered 1-2 more times this year. During a press conference following the Monetary Policy Direction meeting that day, Governor Lee said, "The market's expectation that interest rates will be lowered 1-2 more times this year is not significantly different from our assumptions." On this day, the Monetary Policy Committee lowered the base rate from 3.0% per annum to 2.75% per annum. This decision was unanimous among the committee members. Regarding the interest rate outlook three months from now, Governor Lee said, "Four out of six Monetary Policy Committee members believe that the base rate is likely to be maintained at 2.75% per annum within three months." He added, "The remaining two members believe that the possibility of lowering it below 2.75% should also be kept open." Governor Lee explained, "The four members expressed concerns about the rapid depletion of additional room for interest rate cuts in a situation of high uncertainty in domestic and foreign policy conditions." He further added, "The remaining two members were of the opinion that, considering the downward pressure on the economy, it would be good to keep the possibility of additional cuts open and make judgments according to changing conditions." Governor Lee added, "However, all six members agreed that monetary policy is in an interest rate cutting phase, and they agreed to decide on the timing of cuts while monitoring future data." Reporter Jin-gyu Kang

Ju Gi-yeong, CEO of CryptoQuant, claimed that "most altcoins will not survive." On the 25th, CEO Ju stated on X that "the era when all coins rise together is over." He said, "This altcoin season will have a selective trend," and reiterated that "most altcoins will not survive." He also pointed out notable characteristics of altcoins that should be paid attention to. CEO Ju explained, "The characteristics of altcoins expected to be bullish this year are the possibility of ETF approval, continuous attention-driving factors, and profit-generating projects."

Story (IP) is showing a sharp rise during trading hours. As of 10:40 AM on the 25th, Story is recording $4.82, up 23.69% compared to the previous day according to CoinMarketCap. This is particularly notable in contrast to the overall downward trend in the virtual asset (cryptocurrency) market today. At the same time, the leading virtual asset Bitcoin (BTC) and the leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH) fell 3.79% and 10.10% respectively compared to the previous day. Meanwhile, Story, which recorded strength despite other virtual assets showing weakness, has reached a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, surpassing Maker (MKR) and Stacks (STX) to rise to 62nd place in market capitalization.

For the first time in 5 years since the COVID crisis Kim Byung-hwan: "Considering international credibility" Short selling will be allowed for all listed companies starting from the end of next month. This comes 5 years after it was completely banned in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 impact. Kim Byung-hwan, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission(pictured), said at a regular press briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on the 24th, "When short selling resumes, our position is to allow it for all stocks," adding, "If the system check confirms there are no issues, we will fully resume it on the 31st of next month." Short selling is a transaction that generates profit by borrowing and selling shares of stocks expected to decline in price. After the pandemic, when market volatility increased, it was completely banned, then partially allowed in May 2021 for 350 stocks included in the KOSPI 200 and KOSDAQ 150 indices. In November 2023, it was completely banned again following illegal naked short selling incidents, but there were criticisms about significant side effects such as foreign investor exodus. Chairman Kim emphasized, "When short selling was partially allowed, we resumed it mainly for stocks with many foreign investors," adding, "Since we've spent over a year improving the system and regulations, there's no reason to resume it for only some stocks." He also added, "We must also consider our international credibility." The authorities have decided to temporarily ease the requirements for designating 'overheated short selling stocks' to minimize volatility in individual stocks. Chairman Kim said, "We will ease the criteria for a month or two so that more stocks can be designated as overheated stocks." When designated as an overheated stock, short selling is automatically prohibited on the next trading day. Kim Byung-hwan: "It's time for bank loan interest rates to come down" 'Full resumption of short selling', "Interest rates should be determined by market principles" Interpretations suggest that Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byung-hwan's announcement on the 24th about resuming short selling for all stocks is a 'message of courtship' aimed at foreign investors. This is because there is a widespread perception among overseas institutions that 'a stock market where short selling strategies cannot be used is unfair.' However, he now faces the challenge of appeasing individual investors who have been concerned about stock index declines after short selling is allowed. Regarding bank interest rate practices, Chairman Kim urged a reduction in loan interest rates, saying, "The base rate cut should be reflected in loan interest rates." Expectations for inclusion in developed market indices likely to increase At the press conference, Chairman Kim said, "Even if short selling is fully resumed from the end of next month, its impact on the overall capital market will be short-term," adding, "I am also aware of concerns that short selling might concentrate on certain individual stocks." This is also why he announced the temporary easing of requirements for designating overheated short selling stocks. He said, "We will be able to discuss specific easing criteria next month as we need to examine the impact and effects of short selling through past data." This suggests the number of stocks designated as overheated for short selling could increase. South Korea is the only developed stock market that has completely banned short selling. While it was a measure to block unfair trading, there have been many criticisms that Korea is missing out on the positive functions of short selling, which provides liquidity to the market and prevents overheating. One of the reasons for repeatedly failing to be included in the MSCI Developed Markets Index, a long-cherished wish of the securities industry, was the short selling ban. According to the Bank of Korea, foreign investors withdrew a total of 2.6 trillion won from the stock and bond markets last month. Lee Hyo-seop, a research fellow at the Capital Market Research Institute, said, "Just being included in the MSCI Developed Markets Index could lead to net purchases by foreign investors worth up to 60 trillion won." Some observers predict that the short selling ban might be reconsidered due to political demands. Even within the Financial Services Commission, there have been considerations to ban short selling if the stock index falls 15-20% compared to the average of the previous three months. A capital market insider pointed out, "Along with the full resumption of short selling, clear guidelines on short selling policy must be issued to bring back foreign investors." "Checking if interest rates follow market principles" Regarding questions about the bank 'interest profit controversy,' Chairman Kim responded, "It's time to lower loan interest rates." While acknowledging that "there is a time lag for base rate cuts to be reflected in the market, and there were household debt management issues at the end of last year," he emphasized, "I think it's now time for banks to reflect this." He added, "In that respect, the Financial Supervisory Service is checking whether interest rate decisions are being made according to market principles." According to the Korea Federation of Banks, the average household loan interest rates of the five major commercial banks (KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH) for new loans in December last year ranged from 4.49% to 5.17% annually, which is actually 0.45-0.7 percentage points higher than in September (4.04-4.47% annually) before the rate cut. On the 21st, the Financial Supervisory Service requested banks to submit data on benchmark and add-on interest rate changes by borrower and product, along with justifications and preferential interest rate application status. Regarding the recent fee issues that have emerged as card companies move to introduce Apple Pay, he said, "This is not an issue for financial authorities to intervene in," but added, "We will closely monitor the market situation to ensure that the burden is not transferred to merchants and consumers." He also sent a kind of 'warning' to Lotte Non-Life Insurance, which applied an exception model for the accounting treatment of non-surrender value insurance. Chairman Kim stated, "If exceptions are allowed without sufficient grounds, there will be too many exceptions," adding, "The supervisory authorities will check whether there are acceptable grounds." Yang Hyun-ju/Choi Seok-cheol/Shin Yeon-soo reporters hjyang@hankyung.com

Bitcoin (BTC) has surpassed $96,000. This is due to the news of MicroStrategy's Bitcoin purchase. Previously, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor announced an additional purchase of 20,356 BTC by MicroStrategy. This amounts to approximately $1.99 billion (about 2.8427 trillion won). As of 10:37 AM, Bitcoin is trading at $96,026 on Binance's USDT market, up 0.15% compared to 24 hours ago.

It has been revealed that hackers who attacked the global cryptocurrency exchange Bybit laundered Ethereum worth about $224 million (approximately 320 billion won) over a period of about 3 days. On-chain analyst EmberCN announced on the 25th through their X account that "Bybit hackers have laundered 89,500 Ethereum worth $224 million over the past 3 days." EmberCN stated, "This represents 18% of the stolen Ethereum (ETH)." The amount of Ethereum stolen from Bybit in this hack is 499,000. Analysis suggests that the hackers are primarily using THORChain for money laundering. EmberCN analyzed that "the hackers appear to plan to exchange the remaining 410,000 Ethereum for other assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Dai (DAI) within the next 15 days," and that "currently, the hackers are mainly using THORChain to conduct cross-chain asset exchanges."

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Art Cube 2R2 Gallery Highlights Artist Park Bang-young Who Traverses Eastern and Western Painting Styles Unveils Artwork 'Riding a Horse to the Flower Garden' Combined with Poet Na Tae-joo's Poetry Also Premieres Large Media Artwork on Gwanghwamun Grand Seoul Media Art Wall ArtToken's gallery 'Art Cube 2R2' announced on the 21st that it will host artist Park Bang-young's solo exhibition 'I See Me: Seeing Myself' from the 27th to April 10th. This exhibition will feature representative works by artist Park Bang-young, who has built a unique artistic world by freely traversing Eastern and Western painting techniques, along with works that capture inner peace and the meaning of life found in nature. Artist Park Bang-young has explored the aesthetic value of nature and expressed it with unique lines and colors. In particular, she has presented works that visualize the vitality of invisible energy by incorporating calligraphic elements with surrealism's automatism and abstract expressionism's action painting techniques. This exhibition will also showcase digital works created through collaboration between artist Park Bang-young and ArtToken's NFT studio. The exhibition will introduce about 50 works, including an original painting of size 200. Additionally, the works will be displayed on the media art wall of 'Grand Seoul,' a landmark in Gwanghwamun, and can be appreciated through a massive digital screen from the end of February. In particular, this exhibition will feature 'Riding a Horse to the Flower Garden,' a work reborn through poet Na Tae-joo's lyrical language. Inspired by Park Bang-young's work, poet Na Tae-joo created a poem based on this motif and included it in his latest poetry collection, 'Today I'm Going Home Again.' This collaborative work, where painting meets literature, is expected to provide viewers with a new appreciation experience. The exhibition opening reception will be held on Thursday, February 27th at 5 PM, and a painting performance featuring artist Park Bang-young will also take place. The exhibition continues until April 10th, and more detailed information can be found on the Art Cube 2R2 Gallery's official website. Hong Ji-sook, director of Art Cube 2R2 Gallery, said, "This exhibition was designed to allow audiences to fully feel and connect with the vibrant energy of spring in this season through the artistic world of Park Bang-young, who delicately expresses the communion between nature and humans," adding, "In particular, it will show the interpretive power and structural beauty that Oriental painting expressions have when implemented digitally, and provide an opportunity to project oneself through the nature depicted in the works."

<Today's Major Economic Schedule> ▶24th(Mon): △EU January Consumer Price Index (Korea time 19:00, US time 05:00) <Today's Major Cryptocurrency Schedule> ▶24th(Mon): △Ethereum(ETH) Pectra Holsky application

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