South Korea Financial News

South Korea's government is taking steps to protect cryptocurrency investors from implosions like Do Kwon’s Terra ecosystem tokens by passing a new crypto bill.

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading:

NFT-related altcoin Blur (BLUR) has risen double-digit over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data. The native token of its namesake NFT aggregator and marketplace has soared above 20%.

The Ethics Investigation Advisory Committee of the South Korean government has reportedly convened to discuss potential disciplinary measures against National Assembly member Kim Nam-kuk for alleged conflicts of interest involving cryptocurrency trades and related legislation. 

The Ethics Investigation Advisory Committee of the South Korean government has reportedly convened to discuss potential disciplinary measures against National Assembly member Kim Nam-kuk for alleged conflicts of interest involving cryptocurrency trades and related legislation. 

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A South Korean court has ruled that “Bitcoin (BTC) is not money,” and that “interest rate rules don’t apply” to business deals involving cryptoassets.

As US regulators sued three major crypto exchanges this year, billions of dollars of trading volumes have migrated to Asia. That shift could be poised to accelerate as market makers and exchanges move resources to a region where several jurisdictions have introduced regulatory frameworks and are vying for digital-asset traders. Investors and marketplaces are flocking to Singapore, Japan and South Korea — and more recently to Hong Kong, which this month introduced a new regulatory regime for crypto. Bitcoin trading activity in predominantly Asian hours have risen this year even as they slumped in US and European hours, data compiled by CryptoQuant show. The token accounts for almost half of crypto’s total market value. The resilience in Asian crypto volumes is underpinned by institutional investors who perceive the regulatory environment there as less risky, according to several market participants interviewed by Bloomberg. “With so much regulatory uncertainty in the US, Asia has become an increasingly important hub for digital-asset activity,” said Jonny Caldwell, who focuses on alternative investments including cryptocurrencies as co-head of asset management at Trovio Group. “We are observing a major shift to Asian-based exchanges and venues in the last few months.”

Haru Invest, a struggling South Korean crypto yield platform, has reportedly terminated contracts for over 100 employees.

Singapore based cryptocurrency exchange service provider Crypto.com has obtained a virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration from the Bank of Spain. The regulatory approval would allow the exchange to offer a range of crypto-focused services to customers in Spain, a country which has shown a positive crypto stance in recent times.

Terraform Labs, and one of his aides to four months in prison on charges of using fake passports. Kwon, 32, who was behind cryptocurrencies that suffered a multi-billion dollar crash last year, and his chief financial officer, identified only by his surname Han, were arrested at Podgorica Airport on March 23 after attempting to travel to Dubai with forged passports, reports Yonhap News Agency. The Basic Court in Podgorica announced on its website, it handed four-month prison terms to both. They denied the charges during previous hearings. Earlier this month, the court granted bail to both on the condition that they each pay 400,000 euros ($428,241) in bail money and are placed in confinement under police surveillance.

A government study conducted by the Research Office at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has suggested that the city should take cues from countries like Japan and Singapore in its efforts to develop and embrace Web3 technologies and crypto.

According to a recent report by local news outlet Decenter, South Korean crypto lending platform Delio will resume withdrawals, albeit with no fixed schedule, after pausing them on June 14. In a meeting with investors on June 17, CEO Jung Sang-ho explained, "[Delio] will secure as much capital as possible to compensate” and that "users’ withdrawals would come in phases." No details regarding the specific repayment period, method and amount of damage were disclosed, however. 

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was found guilty of using fake passports in a court in Montenegro on Monday. 

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon has been found guilty of using a false passport by a court in Montenegro and has been sentenced to four months in prison.

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon told a Montenegro court that he wasn’t aware the passport he was traveling with was allegedly forged and instead pinned the blame on a Chinese-named agency.

Do Kwon, the Terraform Labs founder and CEO, has told a Montenegro court that he did not know the “fake” travel documents he was allegedly trying to leave the country with were forged – and blamed a “Chinese-named agency.”

South Korea’s financial industry thinks the nation’s security token offerings (STO) market could be worth $287 billion by 2030, with the biggest commercial banks in the country “lining up” to get involved.

Smaller crypto exchanges such as Kraken, Bybit and Bitget are finally getting their time in the spotlight after their more dominant rival FTX collapsed last year, according to findings in a new report from blockchain analytics firm Nansen.

Lawyers representing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have argued that the additional documents submitted by Dentons — the law firm representing Terraform Labs and Do Kwon — in support of its motion to dismiss the lawsuit lack adequate support for dismissing the case.

Do Kwon, the founder of failed blockchain project Terra, could stay in custody for up to six months while Montenegro's courts consider an extradition request from South Korea.