Presidential committee wants Korea to give cryptos legal status

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution in South Korea has recommended that the government should give legal status to cryptocurrencies in the country. The committee, which is commissioned directly by the president, believes that this is the best way to ensure that Korea stays at the forefront of innovation in the sector.

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are going to be at the center of the upcoming fourth industrial revolution, the committee believes. As the world adopts the two and integrates them into their economies more, they’ll form the foundation upon which many industries will build. As such, South Korea must be adequately prepared for this revolution, and the first critical step is assigning them a legal status, the committee believes.

The committee, which was speaking during the recently-held Fourth Industrial Revolution Global Policy Conference, stated, “The government should secure legal status for crypto assets as soon as possible, and seek tax and accounting measures for them.”

By implementing policies that give cryptos and blockchain legal validity, the country will foster innovation in the field, it added. The government should also create regulatory sandboxes for blockchain startups which will allow them to develop their products without any fear of legal implications.

South Korea initiated some measures that sought to curb the crypto fever and insulate investors from potential losses a while back. And while they did protect the investors, they have also slowed down the growth of the crypto and blockchain industries, the committee believes.

It stated, “The government’s deterrence policy, which is indispensable to the cryptocurrency speculation fever, is reducing the global competitiveness of the blockchain and crypto asset industries. We need to set policy goals to preempt future opportunities.”

This is the latest instance of blockchain push in an Asian country, with the blockchain arms race starting to heat up. As more countries realize the potential of blockchain technology, the race to become the global hub for the technology is intensifying. The U.S., European countries such as the U.K. and Switzerland, Asian countries such as Japan and Korea; they are all trying to get a piece of the blockchain pie.

China’s president Xi Jinping recently declared that his country is ready to embrace blockchain at all levels.