South Korea likely to revisit ICO legality decision in November

The government of South Korea is going to decide on the fate of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the country once again in November, CoinDesk reported.

During the National Assembly's annual audit, Hong Nam-ki, head of the office for government policy coordination, said that regulators have been reviewing the topic in the past couple of months.

In September 2017, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) banned all ICO-related activities in the country. Since then, domestic startups started looking at other jurisdictions to conduct their ICO drives.

However, the National Assembly started making efforts to allow ICOs in South Korea and proposed lifting the ban in May 2018.

Hong said that the FSC has been conducting surveys on ICOs since September, adding, “We are going to form the position of the government in November based on the results of the investigation at the end of October.”

However, FSC Chairman Choi Jong-gu remains skeptical and emphasized on the risks posed by ICOs.

"Many people say ICOs should be allowed, but ... uncertainty remains, and the damage is too serious and obvious," he said at a recent meeting (as translated by CoinDesk from Yonhap).