New South Korean President Seeks to Give a Local Crypto Push

Yoon Suk-yeol, the South Korean President-elect, made some promises that can be taken to be crypto-friendly, as he considers himself a crypto enthusiast that plans to push the crypto industry.

According to Nikkei, the President-elect has no business experience whatsoever, but he has many ideas in mind concerning the crypto industry.

Prior to his current role as the leader of South Korea, Yoon was the country’s top prosecutor. He planned to make initial coin offerings (ICOs) legal in the country, as they became illegal in 2017.

According to one of the proposals made by the former prosecutor and now President of the nation, cryptocurrency trading gains could get tax exemptions if the profit from trading does not exceed 50 million won or $40,000, allowing crypto gains to be treated as stock trading gains.

Throughout the country, cryptocurrency beneficiaries and advocates have warmly welcomed Suk-yeol, his pro-crypto proposals and will be happy when various barriers to crypto adoption are removed. Because of the crackdown on the industry and the prohibition of ICOs, most projects originating from South Korea have moved to Singapore and raised money, issued coins and paid taxes there, rather than in their homeland.

Metaverse and South Korea

On other fronts concerning the local crypto sphere, South Korea’s Metaverse ETFs have been gaining attraction from retail investors. The metaverse is a virtual reality platform where users worldwide interact with each other via 3D avatars.

Companies have heavily invested in real estate in the metaverse, virtual stores and live events. In October 2021, 4 metaverse ETFs were launched in South Korea, and over $90 million was invested in the ETFs in less than a couple of weeks.

The 4 South Korean metaverse ETFs are NH Amundi Asset Management’s Hanaro Fn K-Metaverse MZ, Samsung Asset Management’s KODEX K-Metaverse Active, KBSTAR iSelect Metaverse, and Mirae Asset Global Investment’s Tiger Fn Metaverse.