South Korea To Introduce Bill to Legalize “Limited” New ICOs

The lawmakers of South Korea are moving towards introducing the bill to legalize the limited number of newly launched ICOs that will be under government supervision. After banning the ICOs completely last year, South Korean companies took to abroad to launch their ICOs.

South Korea on the way to legalize new ICOs

South Korean regulators are finally moving on to legalizing the Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) in the country. Hong Eui-rak, the representative of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is leading the regulatory move along with 10 other lawmakers that advocate the legalizing of new ICOs.

On Wednesday, during the forum on blockchain technology and ICOs at the National Assembly, Hong stated that:

“The bill is aimed at legalizing ICOs under the government’s supervision.” He further mentioned that they are already working on having a bill to back their move and get it validated this year.

The bill was based on a joint study by Hong’s office and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) which according to him is the first parliamentary challenge to the ban imposed by the government on ICOs last year. Authorities took the decision to restrict bitcoin trading in order to tone down the speculative investment in cryptocurrencies.

Hong also commented that

“The primary goal (of the legislation) is helping remove uncertainties facing blockchain-related businesses.”

Also, read: Taiwan Gets Stricter On Cryptocurrencies: Crypto AMLRegulations To Be Released In November

Legalized ICOs to face tight supervision from FSC

The point worth noticing here is that the bill won’t be seeking unlimited ICOs rather only those that are initiated by the public organizations and research centers that work towards developing and promoting the blockchain technology.

These ICOs will be further subjected to strict supervision by the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Science and ICT as per the bill.

Chung Sye-kyun, a National Assembly Speaker said cryptos and blockage can be used for good causes in public sectors but the political uncertainties they face need to be reduced for which he underscored regulators who have been unable to do so.

Last year, South Korea banned ICOs that led the domestic companies to launch their token sales and set up their subsidiaries overseas in countries like Switzerland and Singapore.

However, the Financial Services Commision (FSC) pointed that though the current laws don’t prohibit the launch of ICOs abroad, it is highly likely that this violates the current legislation. The financial authorities have been reportedly already in talks with the justice ministry, tax agency and other relevant departments to allow the ICOs in the country only if certain conditions are met.

Do you think with this step South Korea will be soon legalizing the new ICOs? Let us know your views by commenting below!