The Liberal Party of Korea (a conservative political party holding 1/3 of the seats of South Korea's national assembly) has reportedly announced a plan with 20 strategic goals and 50 detailed goals to push regulation and use of #Blockchain with a focus on #fraud prevention but also including a plan to legalise #ICO and #IEO offerings.
The plan was prepared with contributions from 90 business and community blockchain members consulting with the government and represents a dramatic alternative to South Korea's ruling party's blockchain ambitions, which is pro-blockchain, but anti-cryptocurrency.
This follows the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit's comments in August that they intend to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges more closely, with Lee Tae-hoon — head of administration and planning at the FIU saying:
If an amendment to the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information, which reflects the FATF’s international standards for cryptocurrencies, passes the National Assembly, it will be possible to prevent money laundering through cryptocurrencies.
The FIU has previously indirectly regulated exchanges via guidance and regulation on banks, in particular around the KYC standards being applied. It has been reported that in August exchanges in South Korea started facing increased pressure from banks to apply stricter KYC standards. This is of course an area that Australian exchanges have long since addressed, after amendments in 2018 to our Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act made registration of Digital Currency Exchanges mandatory (with over 260 global exchanges voluntarily registered in Australia now).