Yoon Seok-Yeol, South Korea’s incoming president, wants to loosen cryptocurrency regulations. He refuses to tax cryptocurrency profits unless the country passes legislation to safeguard consumers.
South Korea has long been a leader in innovation, as indicated by its rapid economic growth. With its new president, the country is demonstrating that it is once again a prominent player in emerging technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and artificial intelligence.
Yoon Seok-Yeol, South Korea’s new president-elect, is a strong supporter of the bitcoin industry. On Tuesday, he stated that he would do everything possible to avoid taxing bitcoin investment gains until legislation would provide consumer protections.
The tax on cryptocurrency gains was implemented during the administration of the former South Korean president. It was supposed to go into effect in the fiscal year 2022, but it was pushed back to 2023 last December.
This levy proposes to tax 20% of bitcoin investment earnings over $2,100 per year. A new source of revenue that might be significant for the state.
However, Yoon argues that there is insufficient legislation in place to warrant taxing digital assets. He does not want to tax cryptocurrency gains, despite the fact that there is no protection for investors and that the risk of the investment is totally on them.
The consumer protection legislation referred to by South Korea’s president is a series of regulations known as the “Digital Asset Basic Act” (DABA). It may not go into effect until 2024, giving bitcoin investors two years to reap tax-free gains.
The Financial Services Commission created the DABA (FSC). This set of rules governs token issuance, NFTs, centralized exchange listings (CEX), international crypto financing, and so on.
The FSC intends to use this legislation to establish a cryptocurrency insurance scheme to defend against cyberattacks, unauthorized transactions, and simple computer system mistakes.
Simon Kim, CEO of South Korean crypto startup Hashed, agrees with the new South Korean president, saying:
“In the absence of in-depth industry research and rigorous implementation techniques, the promotion of cryptocurrency taxes may result in a variety of accidents and create severe tax fairness concerns, as an investor protection system for cryptocurrencies has yet to be developed.”