Korean Presidential Committee Pushes for Crypto

In order to stay competitivie in the international market, the presidential committe in South-Korea is pushing for the legalization of cryptocurrencies. The government's actions towards cryptocurrencies have been risk averse and the committee aims to change that. This committee, known as the South Korean Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (PCFIR), reviews matters related to the fourth industrial revolution (i.e. blockchain, 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, and the internet of things).

According to a source on Bitcoin.com, chairman Chang Byung-gyu said “the government needs to establish the legal status of crypto assets", stressing on how the government must improve to be supportive of crypto projects. He added "The legal status of crypto assets should be established as soon as possible, and tax and accounting measures should be taken".

The Korean government seemed a little less enthusiastic bringing up matters related to  side effects raised by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Information. The PCFIR criticized the government's doubt by saying The government’s deterrence policy, which is indispensable to the cryptocurrency speculation fever, is reducing our global competitiveness in the blockchain and crypto-asset industries … We need to set policy goals to preempt future opportunities".

After the PCFIR laid down its recommendations on the table, Lee Kong-joo, Advisor to the President for Science and Technology, thanked the committee and said “I will actively consider ways to make these [recommendations] possible.”