South Korea to Bet on Cryptocurrency Under New President
Date: 2025-06-05 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
On June 3, 2025, South Korea officially elected a new president, a representative of the left-wing political wing, Lee Jae-moon. He won with 49.42% of the vote, while his rival Kim Moon-soo, representing the right-wing conservative party, received 41.15%. The turnout was 79.4%, which was a record in almost three decades. Lee's victory came amid political unrest following the resignation of Yoon Seok-yul, whose aggressive approach to foreign policy caused widespread discontent.
One of the main hallmarks of Lee's election campaign was his support for digital finance and a desire to reform the crypto market. He expressed his intention to make South Korea a leading player in the field of digital assets in the region. The president plans to push ahead with the launch of spot cryptocurrency ETFs despite the current ban in the country. At the same time, he is inspired by the experience of the United States, where such instruments have already demonstrated success.
Among other initiatives of the new head of state is the creation of a national market for stablecoins pegged to the Korean won. Such a measure, according to him, will prevent capital flight abroad. Also, the government under his leadership aims to complete the second stage of legislative changes aimed at ensuring the transparency of crypto exchanges and strengthening control over the issuance of stablecoins.
Lee Jae-moon also proposed easing supervisory measures in specially designated blockchain zones, which should create favorable conditions for technological developments and startups.
It is noteworthy that similar promises were made by the previous president. Yoon Seok-yeol also announced plans to liberalize the cryptosphere, but their implementation was stalled due to the tough stance of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which defended the interests of investors through increased supervision.
However, South Korea remains one of the largest participants in the crypto market. According to FSC data, at the end of 2024, about 30% of the country's population — 15.59 million people — owned crypto assets. By February 2025, the number of crypto exchange users reached 16.3 million, which confirms the high interest in digital financial instruments in society.
