Despite some problems with the coronavirus even inside the Parliament, the South Korean National Assembly voted in favour of a specific crypto regulation.
In particular, this is an amendment to the Special Financial Transactions Information Act which was passed last November and which aims to create an operational framework for the crypto sector in the country.
This Act was passed unanimously by 182 votes and will be effective next year – March 2021. This is the first time that South Korea has introduced a law on crypto taxes and exchanges.
Moreover, according to this law, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) will be the regulatory body responsible for monitoring the crypto sector in the country.
This news arrives at a time when also in India, the ban against cryptocurrencies, which has been defined unconstitutional, was removed: in fact, yesterday, the Supreme Court of India cancelled the ban of the Central Bank, which prohibited the purchase of crypto assets.
Crypto regulation in Europe
Moving to Europe, the FSMA has recently asked the Belgian government for more regulation concerning cryptocurrencies, in particular, to establish a new legal framework for the sale, purchase and use of virtual currencies and all related financial products.
Germany has also officially recognized cryptocurrencies as financial instruments, which means that all financial assets in Germany must have written authorization from BaFin, the German financial supervisory authority.
So it seems that a clear regulation on the subject cannot be avoided – all over the world – which could perhaps attract more institutional investors but at the same time create many barriers for startups wishing to enter the sector, given that authorizations are often expensive and slow to arrive.
