The Financial Supervisory Services (FSS) has been chosen as the main agency responsible for overseeing South Korea’s crypto market. The government reached its decision after prolonged discussions that lasted for months.
It took the South Korean government some time before reaching a decision on which agency shall be in charge of crypto market oversight. In an announcement on Friday, the task of overseeing the crypto market was finally delegated to the Financial Supervisory Services, the country’s financial regulator, according to the Korea Herald.
The FSS will closely monitor the implementation of regulator measures that were previously introduced, according to Bitcoin.com. These include the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, which will impose certain restrictions on crypto exchanges operating in the country.
Aside from designating the FSS to police the crypto market, the government also delegated the Minister of Science and Information and Communication Technology to oversee the country’s blockchain industry and its development.
The task is not exactly new for the ministry as it has already dealt with crypto-related issues on the past. For instance, it identified and blocked 32 websites used in crypto phishing scams during the first three months of 2021 alone. The ministry noted a rise in crypto phishing scams nothing that it only blocked 41 sites for the entire year of 2020.
Scammers usually initiate their attacks through text messages that attempt to lure crypto holders into fake websites and have then enter their exchange usernames and passwords. They deceive their victims by making fake sites very similar to real platforms.
As part of its announcement, the South Korean government also confirmed its plans to impose a 20 percent income tax on gains made from crypto transactions. Crypto traders who make 25 million won, which is around $22,400, or more next year will be required to pay an income tax of 20 percent of their profits.
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