South Korea is beefing up its crypto investigations and regulations

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea launched an investigation into payment gateway services that work with digital assets on Friday, June 3. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is South Korea’s financial regulator, which reports to the FSS. Both are government institutions.

According to local news outlet Money Today Co., the FSS recently demanded reports from 157 payment gateways on any crypto-related services, future plans, and digital asset disclosure. However, according to an FSS report, only 6 had any digital assets.

Although the FSS is currently the primary financial regulator, South Korea announced the formation of the Digital Assets Committee on May 31, 2022. Following the Luna-Terra crash, this is a temporary solution to bring structure to the virtual asset industry, according to the announcement.

The guidelines include screening criteria for newly-listed assets, market monitoring, trade monitoring, a level of disclosure, and other investor protections, according to the announcement. The country’s five major exchanges appear to agree on the standards and have formed their own committee to help prevent another incident like Terra (LUNA).

Soon after the FSS launched its investigation, it announced a remote meeting with other financial supervisory authorities from five Asian countries. The Indonesian Financial Supervisory Service hosted this event, which also included Australia, China, and Japan.

The discussion focused on global market conditions, as well as big tech and cryptocurrency. The Korean representative emphasized the importance of cryptocurrency regulation, disciplinary action regarding virtual assets, and the expansion of financial regulatory frameworks.

South Korean officials launched an investigation into Do Kwon, the main figure in the Luna incident, on Tuesday, May 24th, 2022. Yoon Chang-Hyeon, the chairman of the People’s Strength Virtual Assets Special Committee, who met with top exchanges in response, will lead the aforementioned Digital Assets Committee.

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