When Upbit, a large virtual asset (cryptocurrency) exchange, designated or delisted 30 coins as significant stocks, the Financial Supervisory Service acquired Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification, including Upbit. We started to understand the situation by requesting information on the current situation.
In response, the Financial Supervisory Service drew a line, not for the purpose of sanctions, but to prepare for discussions on virtual asset-related bills to be held in the National Assembly in the future. In the financial sector, it is interpreted that the FSS is preparing to supervise the ‘cryptocurrency market’.
According to the financial industry on the 16th, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) requested on the 14th, “Please submit a list of coins that have been or will be designated as delisted/notable items from the 7th to the 16th” to 20 cryptocurrency exchanges that have obtained ISMS certification. An official from the Financial Supervisory Service explained, “We decided that the issue of delisting the coin could continue to arise, so we requested data to understand the situation.”
On the 11th, Upbit delisted 5 coins including ‘MARO’, ‘Paycoin (PCI)’, and ‘QTCON’ and 25 coins including ‘Komodo (KMD)’ as important stocks. designated As a result of the internal evaluation, it was judged that the standard was not met.
Since then, the price of the coin has dropped significantly, and investors are protesting that they were not informed in advance. Currently, there are also petitions criticizing the exchange’s actions on the Blue House’s public petition bulletin board.
The Financial Supervisory Service is not at the level of managing or supervising the exchange in response to this request for the status quo.
An official from the FSS said, “It is true that the request was made to look at the issue of investor protection, but we are preparing to see what can be reflected in the policy as we can ask the FSS for their opinions in the process of discussing the Virtual Property Industry Rights Act in the future at the National Assembly.” We do not have the legal authority to manage or supervise exchange operators in this regard.”
There is also an interpretation that the FSS is actually preparing to supervise the cryptocurrency market. Kim Seung-joo, a professor at Korea University’s Graduate School of Information Security, said, “The Special Act is an institutional device to prevent money laundering, not a law to protect investors.” I think it’s a procedure to fill in the negative content,” he explained. He continued, “If the government had not taken a position before and had unofficially grasped the market trends, now that the division of duties has been completed, it is time to officially step forward,” he said.
The department that requested the delisting status of the cryptocurrency exchange is the Digital Financial Supervision Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Service. The department in charge of cryptocurrency within the Financial Supervisory Service is largely divided into the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Digital Financial Supervision Bureau. While the Anti-Money Laundering Office is in charge of anti-money laundering and reporting on exchanges under the Special Act, the Digital Financial Supervisory Service looks at the overall trend of the cryptocurrency market, including investor protection issues. There is still no legal basis to supervise the cryptocurrency market, so it is only about understanding the current situation.
