South Korea regulator targets institutional access to crypto market this year
South Korea's financial regulator is seeking to allow institutional participation in the cryptocurrency market this year, calling the move a prerequisite for the next phase of digital asset legislation aimed at reshaping a market now dominated by retail traders.
Speaking at a judicial training program at the Seoul Southern District Court, Shim Won-tae, an official in the Virtual Asset Division of the Financial Services Commission's (FSC) Digital Finance Policy Bureau, said corporate participation in the crypto market was among the agency's priorities for the year, according to Herald Business. A market limited to retail investors would be at odds with the planned second phase of crypto legislation, he said, describing broader institutional access as a necessary first step.
Stock token tax rules under review
The comments come as policymakers weigh the tax treatment of security tokens. A Ministry of Economy and Finance official said that the government currently regards stock tokens as securities, which could allow them to be taxed under the existing Capital Markets Act if the FSC adopts the same view, Bloomingbit reported. The outlet said taxation could begin later this year if the FSC clarifies the status of stock tokens in a planned July update to security token guidelines and implementing rules.
Market conditions have added urgency to the debate. At a National Assembly forum on June 11 marking the first anniversary of the Lee Jae-myung government, Hong Sung-kook, who chairs the ruling Democratic Party's National Economic Advisory Council, flagged two urgent risks: the recent sharp sell-off in the crypto market, which counts an estimated 10 million Korean investors, and a weaker won, according to Digital Asset. He also warned of inflation risks from a prolonged Iran war and a semiconductor boom. South Korea should work to stabilize equities, real estate and digital assets, and prepare for policy shifts by the Trump administration after the war, he said.
LG turns to Arbitrum for ads
In a sign of corporate blockchain adoption, LG Electronics is developing an Arbitrum-based network to automate the buying and selling of advertising, Fortune reported. The platform records ad inventory and user-response data on-chain and lets software settle transactions on its own. LG ran a pilot with a Japanese advertising agency and plans to weigh commercialization of the ad platform in the second half of this year. Arbitrum co-founder Steven Goldfeder described it as software running the advertising market.
Investor sentiment, meanwhile, stayed bearish. In CoinNess and Kratos's weekly survey of South Korean investors, conducted June 9–12, 65.7% expected Bitcoin to fall in the week ahead, up from 58.8% in the prior poll, while 13.7% looked for gains, down from 17.7%, and 20.6% expected sideways trading, down from 23.5%. Bearish expectations held the majority, and both the bullish and sideways camps thinned from a week earlier. Asked whether Bitcoin had bottomed after it briefly slipped below $60,000 on June 6, the largest share (38.8%) said it had not and expected further declines. Another 28.6% allowed for a short-term rebound but not a trend reversal, 20.1% judged the bottom was in and called it a buy-the-dip opportunity, and 12.5% were unsure.
According to CoinMarketCap data at publication time, Bitcoin was trading at $63,456.42, down 0.23% over the past week.
