South Korean digital asset experts gathered at the National Assembly on Thursday to discuss president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s crypto campaign promises, which included his plan to bring back initial coin offerings (ICOs).
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Fast facts
- The head of crypto exchange Upbit’s investor protection center Lee Hae-boong suggested the government provide white paper templates for ICOs to protect investors from scam tokens.
- Kim Kab-lae, research fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute, insisted that white papers be written in Korean and cover sufficient information for investors to make informed decisions.
- Yoon pledged in his campaign to lift a standing 2017 ban on ICOs and allow them to be supervised by licensed crypto exchanges in the form of initial exchange offerings (IEOs).
- Kim added that a company should be obliged to reveal large-scale investments in crypto or changes to its digital asset portfolio to investors, which has previously resulted in companies influencing token prices.
- Meanwhile, Lee Su-hwan, a researcher at the National Assembly Research Service (NARS), pointed out that new policies for digital assets will need to embody environmental, social and governance (ESG) elements, especially with rising environmental concerns surrounding crypto mining.
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