South Korea is working towards combating illegal cryptocurrency within the nation, and its regulator has created teams saddled with the responsibility of investigating crypto transactions. Financial regulators in South Korea have decided to work together to stop illegal crypto transactions in the area. Bitcoin’s rapid success as both a digital currency and an asset has led to series of illegal activities that could be linked to its usage.
The regulators worry over the region’s interest in speculative investments that led to the crypto market’s growth. One of South Korea’s officials, Koo Yun-Cheol, shared this information recently due to the incoming crackdown on illegal crypto activities. He is the head of the office for Governmental coordination.
South Korea will set up different agencies to this effect
The regulator explained that the nation has to pay attention to the growing illegal activities linked to cryptocurrencies. He shared his opinion during a meeting concerning cryptocurrency, which was first revealed by one of the region’s news sources, Yobhap.
Some changes would occur to ensure that the nation keeps the illegal activities at bay, including the Financial Service Commission mandating all financial institutions to follow new regulations. These new regulations would include the checking of withdrawals done on cryptocurrencies. This would allow the country to monitor activities at the local level.
The financial institution is mandated to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit, which is known to commence investigations and other necessary steps for crimes relating to finance. Asides from the Financial Intelligence Unit, other regulators that would ensure the crackdown on illegal activities include the financial Supervisory Services and the Finance Ministry.
These bodies would check transactions done outside the country, ensuring a thorough check on various financial transactions. South Korean regulators have been stringent on crypto use, and sources believe that this results from numerous illegal activities linked to virtual assets. While most countries regulate the assets, others have completely banned their usage.
South Korea enacts stricter regulations
In March, the country enacted an act, which would ensure Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information. These new regulations have led to the exit of some crypto exchanges that failed to meet up with the recently created guidelines.
Similarly, the regulators explained that the exchanges have to work with local banks to ensure real names for the users. This would prevent users from using non-existing names to mask their activities. Other regulations include more stringent laws on taxation as the country’s local tax service has developed ways to prevent evasion through crypto use.
New growths in the digital asset market have ignited new and stricter regulations from the Asian country. The world’s most popular crypto, Bitcoin, attained the $65,000 mark at a point last week, and this has pushed the asset’s adoption.
The country has been discouraging crypto use as a payment method as the region’s Central Bank’s governor, Lee Ju-yeol, revealed that cryptocurrency’s volatile nature makes it an unsuitable payment method. The regulator explained that the asset’s use is limited and doesn’t ensure stability.
