Chairman Choi, Jonggu of the Korean Financial Services Commission who has against the ICO has resigned. The cryptocurrency industry is expecting there may be any changes in the government stance. The industry is keeping an eye on who the next chairman will be, even though they are not expecting the dramatic shift in policy.
Chairman Choi on Jul.18 said, “There will be a certain scope of changes in the Cabinet. Although the term of office is three years for my position, I have delivered my intention to resign to widen the choices of personnel for the Blue House.” He has been in the position for two years since he was appointed as the first FSC chairman of the Moon, Jae-in Government.
The industry generally sees the resignation will not change any circumstances because the interests of shareholders would remain the same.
A person in concern of the industry said, “In the case of the mobility industry regulations haven’t been resolved for companies despite the public’s wide acceptance of mobility startups because the government has no intention of lifting regulation for these companies. Same for the blockchain, as the persons in concern of it are complicatedly chained, it will not make any difference.”
Another person in concern of the legal circles said, “Chairman Choi did not resign for the change in current policy. The policy will stay the same, I think.” He added, “Practically, it does not make any differences for the industry.”
Cho, Wonhee, a lawyer of D’light law firm also agreed. Although he explained, “There seems to be a slight change in the government’s policy. It seems that they are trying to legalize some part of the industry. It’s a little different from how they unconditionally prohibited ICO before. The amendment of the act on SFTR is a good example of a change in government policy.”
Park, Seongjun, head of Dongguk University Blockchain Center who used to ask chairman Choi to ‘communicate’ and review the national cryptocurrency directions said, “There will be no change in ICO.” He explained that there are too many people who disapprove cryptocurrency in the government.
Though policy changes can not be expected, it may be helpful to look into the next chairman of the FSC. Current successor candidates are Eun, Seongsu, the president of the Export-Import Bank of Korea; Yoon, Jongwon, the former presidential secretary for economic affairs; Kim, Yongbeom, the former vice-chairman of FSC; and Kim, Gwangsu, the president of NH Financial Group.
While president Eun, Seongsu and Yoon, Jongwon are the leading candidates, a person whom the industry is focusing on is Kim, Gwangsu, the president of NH Financial Group. He is the only person who has a connection to the blockchain business.
He has been leading NH Financial Group with ‘Innovation’ as a motto. At the press conference in July last year, he said, “We are having an internal discussion on how to handle the blockchain. Even though the ICO is not approved(by the government), if the issued coin can be reflected on the accounting book, I think it may have a possibility to be institutionalized.”, which is regarded to be a rather industry-friendly comment.
At the opening ceremony of ‘NH Digital Innovation Campus’ in April this year, He also said, “We will lead the financial innovation in Korea through education based on new technologies such as A.I., blockchain, and big data and the practical application of the results.”
Kim, Yeonji (2019.07.19.) 최종구 금융위원장 사의 표명…암호화폐 업계 “바뀔 건 없다”
Chosun, retrieved from http://it.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/07/19/2019071901902.html
