South Korea currently prohibits local financial institutions from owning and buying cryptocurrencies, as well as investing in businesses offering cryptocurrencies. South Korea’s top financial regulator said today it will stick to its rule that prohibits financial institutions from launching crypto exchange-traded funds, local media reported.
A spokesman for the country’s Financial Services Commission told local news outlet Kyunghyang that the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US is not an event that would prompt the Korean regulator to lift the ban or reconsider it. The report cited the stability of financial markets and investor protection as reasons for maintaining current restrictions.
The country’s capital markets law currently limits the scope of underlying assets for securities investment contracts such as ETFs to financial investment instruments, currencies and general commodities that do not include cryptocurrency. South Korea does not recognize cryptocurrencies as financial assets and has banned financial institutions from investing in cryptocurrencies since 2017.
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