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Photo = Yonhap News
Financially advanced countries like the United States, Europe, and Japan are introducing policies to foster markets for virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) like bitcoin one after another.
It recognizes virtual assets as institutional financial assets, opens the derivatives market or protects companies with related technologies. In particular, the European Union (EU), which was conservative on virtual assets compared to the United States and Japan, has recently shown a move to revitalize the market.
In Korea, the ‘Law on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information (Special Law)’, which contains regulations related to virtual assets, was approved by the National Assembly in March and is scheduled to be implemented in March next year. The Financial Services Commission drew a line that read: “The Special Money Law is only intended to impose anti-money laundering obligations on virtual asset business operators, and does not grant the status of financial business operators or incorporate them. to institutional rights “.
Newcomer Europe, will the virtual asset industry become a ‘rising sun’?
UE recently Prepare a legal proposal that focuses on the management of financial products. There is. It is taking the lead in revitalizing the virtual asset market together with the US and Japan, which already treat virtual assets as financial products and foster related markets.
The news was announced on the 16th when the draft of the Cryptocurrency Market Regulatory Proposal (MiCA) of the European Parliament and of the Council, which the EU Commission originally planned to announce later this month, was leaked. According to the MiCA leak, the EU proposes a consistent regulatory approach to virtual assets, emphasizing that “we must take into account the new risks arising from virtual assets, while ensuring that the opportunities created through from them take full advantage “.
Also, according to a Reuters report on the 18th (local time) The EU has even established a policy to fully introduce virtual assets as institutional rights by 2024 and to use stablecoins (currencies that have little change in value when pegged to real money).Transmitted.
The beauty that has already advanced·日… 90% of the total market for virtual assets
Photo = REUTERS
The United States and Japan, which began drafting legislation on virtual assets in 2014, are already ahead.
In the US, since the Chicago Futures Exchange (CME) launched a bitcoin futures trading product in 2017, related trading volumes have been steadily increasing. Especially as a newcomer ‘Bakkt’, a bitcoin futures exchange under the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), also posted a record 1,5995 bitcoins (about KRW 204.6 billion) in futures trading on the 15th.It is emerging as an emerging powerhouse in the Bitcoin futures market.
Last month, the U.S. Currency Supervision Service (OCC) Allow banks to trust virtual assetsBased on this, we have even reorganized the regulations for companies. As a result, large US investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and Wells Fargo can legally entrust virtual assets such as financial assets such as stocks and bonds, and incorporation into institutional rights is in full swing.
MicroStrategy, a company listed on the NASDAQ market, bought Bitcoin for $ 250 million last month.I did. On the 14th, the share price also rose on the news that the asset policy was changed to buy additional bitcoins on the 14th, and again bought a bitcoin worth $ 175 million (approximately 203.8 billion won ).
Michael Sailor, CEO of MicroStrategy, said: “Leaving the dollar was our main concern and we could not accept the risk of inflation. We will hold Bitcoin for at least a century (100 years).” Said.
Photo = Yonhap News
To deal with existing financial products, Japan last year revised the Financial Products Transaction Law and the Payment Services Law, and is treating virtual assets as financial products.
Derivatives trading is also allowed and, as in the United States, the related system has accelerated, leading to large corporations and related markets in growth. Even national IT (information technology) conglomerates Kakao and Naver are friendly to virtual asset-related services, as they promote virtual asset services through their Japanese subsidiaries.it is.
In this atmosphere, SBI Holdings, a large Japanese financial company, The first virtual asset fund in Japan is being prepared.I even announced it. The virtual asset fund launched by SBI Holdings is based on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple.I’m doing. “The global digital financial flow is accelerating. We will meet potential demand through virtual asset funds,” said Kitao Yoshitaka, CEO of SBI Holdings.
Additionally, Yoshihide Suga, who recently succeeded former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, became Japan’s new Prime Minister, is also attracting attention as a “ pro-virtual asset class. ” In March 2014, when Prime Minister Suga was Secretary of State, he emphasized that bitcoin was “good, not currency,” and led the institutionalization of virtual assets in Japan.It has been evaluated as.
On the 15th, when the news broke that he was de facto confirmed as the Japanese Prime Minister, the price of Bitcoin rose 3%. In the industry, Prime Minister Suga was expected to implement a policy that is favorable to revitalize the industry in the future. In fact, on the 17th, just after taking office, Prime Minister Suga appointed President Kitao, who runs the business related to virtual assets at SBI Holdings, as an economic advisor.
The virtual asset market concern in the US and Japan is also demonstrated by the numbers. According to Coinhills, a statistical website related to virtual assets on the 21st, 70.99% of the global volume of bitcoin transactions by national currency is in US dollars and 19.7% in Japanese yen. 90% of the total trade volume is dominated by the US and Japan.
Financial Services Commission “Virtual assets, not financial products”
Photo = Yonhap News
On the other hand, the Korean government’s response to policies related to virtual assets is extremely passive. The Special Money Law containing regulations related to virtual assets was approved by the National Assembly in March and is about to be implemented in March next year, but the Financial Services Commission cautioned against broadening the interpretation, saying that ” the purpose is only to impose anti-money laundering obligations. “
The national virtual asset industry expressed its displeasure at the enactment of a special monetary law when it revealed expectations of incorporation of institutional rights.
Just two years ago, in 2018, the government said: “The virtual cartels (virtual assets) are playing and we will close the exchange.” They even argued that trading virtual assets would actually be considered a crime.
As a result, the national virtual asset industry, which was the number one in the world, has gone over the edge. Most of the companies closed, and talented people in the industry went abroad. Leadership in the virtual asset market was long lost in the United States and Japan.
However, as if this were the case this year, the government quietly enacted the Special Provisions Law and changed its words to pay a 20% capital gains tax. In this situation, it is true that the Financial Services Commission should have made an ‘additional slaughter of the virtual real estate industry’.
Twenty years ago, there was a time when email was illegal. This was the reason why postal law stated that people other than the post office should not send letters for a fee. How long do we have to repeat this mistake?
Reporter Kim San-ha Hankyung.com [email protected]
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