South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is reportedly working with financial authorities to regulate security token offerings (STOs) and initial exchange offerings (IEOs).
See related article: A crypto bull wins the presidency: What it means for South Korea
Fast facts
- STOs, currently being reviewed by Yoon’s Presidential Transition Committee, tokenize traditional securities such as real estate and stocks.
- The Financial Services Commission proposed amending the Capital Markets Act to include STOs, while mulling whether such financial products will be offered on traditional exchanges or cryptocurrency service providers.
- The committee is also looking to grant more cash-to-crypto licenses to crypto trading platforms in efforts to dilute the local crypto exchanges oligopoly.
- South Korea has only four cash-to-crypto exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit — that have over 95% of the local crypto market share.
- Right-leaning Yoon, who starts May 10, promised crypto-friendly policies in his campaign, including the reversal of the 2017 ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) by greenlighting IEOs.
See related article: South Korean crypto exchanges race to comply with strict new rules
