South Korea Brings New Law to Legitimize Crypto

The National Assembly of South Korea’s legislation and judiciary committee has passed a crucial digital currency-related bill on Thursday, legalizing crypto in the country.

Dubbed Special Financial Information Law, the legislation faced multiple delays and now brings proper guidelines to companies providing crypto-related services.

Exchanges operating in the country, from now on, have to implement the Financial Action Task Force-recommended anti-Money Laundering Money Laundering Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laund Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laund Read this Term and counter-terror financing provisions.

The new law also made it mandatory for exchanges to receive approval from the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) to offer services to Korean nationals.

The lawmakers also stress on the issue of increasing attacks on the crypto exchanges and precautionary provisions in the new law.

According to the Special Financial Information Law, digital asset exchanges must obtain an Information Security Management System (ISMS) license from KISA to continue offering their services.

This might weed out many small exchanges that only opened businesses to ride on the bullish trend of crypto.

Notably, only six exchanges currently operating in South Korea - UpBit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, Gopax, and Hanbitco - have obtained an ISMS license from KISA.

Multiple major South Korean exchanges, including UpBit were hacked in the past, resulting in the loss of millions in digital currencies.

Welcoming gesture from the industry

The representatives of the crypto industry in the country, including Kim Seong-ah, the chairperson of the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term Association of South Korea and operator of Hanbitco, welcomed these new regulations as they think this will legitimize digital currency in the country.

Meanwhile, in India, the apex court of the country yesterday squashed the harsh ban of banks offering banking services to crypto businesses, throwing a much-needed lifeline to the growing market.