The financial authorities in South Korea have been following a string of local cryptographic currency exchanges and the stock exchanges in the country are being reviewed by various institutions. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country’s highest authority in terms of financial regulation, has also begun to examine South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchanges.
One of the reasons South Korean officials is investigating cryptocurrency exchanges is the possibility of money laundering through crypto exchanges. Investigations that are conducted to prevent the money laundering of crypto exchanges have been conducted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) so far and the FSC, which announced that it will participate in the research, will assist FSS throughout the process.
Commenting on the involvement of the FSC in these studies, FSC Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom said regulators around the world should act more coordinated when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
The FCS will examine the bank accounts of the Korea-based cryptocurrency exchanges in the direction of the FSS, and will check whether there are any contradictions between the anti-money laundering policies.
According to the news by Korea Times, the main focus of the inspections will be on Bithumb, the largest crypto exchange in the country.
As reported by Korea Times, Kim Yong-beom explained the fact that they are closely following the country’s crypto exchanges does not mean they are against blockchain technology in sectors such as banking and financial services, and that the FSC is still trying to find out how useful the cryptocurrencies are in terms of payment methods.
The president of the FSC also stressed that there should be global cooperation in the policies for the cryptographic paralysis, and that “international discussion“ on the issue has become a necessity.
“We are seeing a steady development of blockchain technology thanks to its greater accessibility and efficiency. Because this technology has the potential to shake up today’s regulations on securities, regulators have to respond to such a looming challenge.”
On May 6, Yook Suk-heun, who has just taken over the position of FSS governor, had some explanations about the cryptocurrencies, and in these explanations he was referring to the “positive aspects” of the crypto. Suk-heun also pointed out that FSS is responsible for producing “remedies to help crypto trading and blockchain technology get better.”
