South Korea to Establish Crypto Oversight Bureau

As part of the preparation for this legislation, there's a need to establish market order beforehand. The regulator has outlined two new entities:

Bureau for overseeing digital assets: responsible for supervising and verifying cryptocurrency service providers, monitoring the market, and enhancing the system.

Bureau for investigating digital assets: tasked with cracking down on market irregularities and safeguarding users from harm.

Previously, oversight of the crypto market in South Korea fell under the financial intelligence unit of the Financial Services Commission (FSC). However, the Financial Supervisory Service only managed a digital assets research group. Alongside providing legislative support, the organization furnished various crypto industry data. The creation of these new entities is expected to significantly bolster law enforcement's role.

Back in late July, South Korean authorities formed an inter-agency task force to combat crypto-related crimes, involving judicial, financial, tax, and customs experts. The government stated that this group would function until specific legislation for the crypto industry is in place.

Furthermore, in mid-November, a representative from the Democratic Party proposed scrutinizing digital assets held by presidential candidates. The belief is that understanding ownership formation for such a crucial position is imperative. Candidates disseminating false information would face legal consequences.

A similar initiative was discussed in May of this year when the South Korean Prime Minister decided to expand the list of assets officials must declare to include cryptocurrencies.