South Korea is eyeing for deregulation in the Fintech sector

According to local news outlet Korea JoongAng Daily, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission declared that rather than regulating fintech sector they would use blockchain technologies and future financial innovation to encourage further development.

Choi Jong-ku, the chairman of the FSC, said “the players in the financial service market are becoming more diverse, with new companies entering, and the competition in the financial market is becoming fiercer. As a result, existing financial companies are also making attempts with fintech to raise their services.”

He also was of the view that the Fintech market has the ability and capacity to provide employment opportunities to the youth of the country. In this regard, the chairman is removing regulatory hurdles that are preventing the businesses to expand their operations, and thus blocking them to create more employment opportunities.

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, FSC authorized the use of app-to-app payment system where the consumers can now buy products without using credit cards or other financial networks. However, banks will charge transaction fees for such payments. Additionally, the fintech firm, Toss, and the online bank, K bank, has already begun their testing stage of app-to-app payment technologies.

Brief background of South Korea

South Korea is a country that is ranked as one of the largest cryptocurrency markets in the world. However, only recently the government has begun to tighten their grip on the cryptocurrencies by implementing tough regulations.

In January this year, the government prohibited the anonymous trading on cryptocurrency exchanges. Nevertheless, in reply to public anti-crypto regulation petition this February, the government clarified its position by stating the fact the there is no ban of cryptocurrencies. But the recent actions by the authorities were taken in light of current environment where the banned exchanges can be used to perpetrate terrorist or criminal activities.

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