Political Parties in South Korea Compete to Support Crypto to Win Voters' Votes

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Political parties in South Korea are competing to provide incentives to the crypto industry to gain voters' votes. The campaign in South Korea's parliamentary elections underscores the country's status as one of the world's largest crypto markets.

Reporting from Yahoo Finance, Monday (8/4/2024), the two major political parties in South Korea, namely the People's Power Party led by President Yoon Suk Yeol, have promised to postpone digital asset taxes, while the opposition Democratic Party has promised to lift funding restrictions. exchange-traded products include US Bitcoin products.

Yoon is seeking to wrest control of the legislature in the April 10 election from the progressive camp led by the Democratic Party. Official figures show more than 6 million South Koreans, more than 10% of the population, participated in the crypto market through registered exchanges in the first half of last year.

This represents a large number of potential voters in an important election. The US in January gave the green light to an ETF that invests directly in Bitcoin, and the product has so far accumulated total assets of around USD 57 billion or the equivalent of IDR 905.6 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 15,887 per US dollar).

South Korea's securities regulator was quick to say brokering products locally may be unlawful, effectively stifling the potential exit of speculative funds.

The move sparked confusion and rocked many stocks. The People Power Party manifesto does not address the controversy, instead pledging to delay plans for a tax on crypto profits beyond the scheduled timeframe of 2025.