The Korean government is expected to unveil its position on initial exchange offerings (IEOs) soon amid its ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs)

In the “2019 blockchain symposium” organized by the Korea Blockchain Association Friday, Jang Gyeong-woon, head of the fintech innovation office at the Financial Services Commission, said legal discussion is also under way concerning IEOs, noting that “we are discussing how to institutionalize cryptocurrency agencies.” According to Jang, the FSS has yet to reach a consensus on IEOs. But his latest remarks are taken as meaning that IEOs won’t be out of the government’s regulatory framework. Some industry officials say the government’s policy on IEOs will make no difference from its ban on ICOs. In fact, a government official reportedly said in an informal meeting, “STOs (security token offerings) and IEOs are modified slightly from ICOs although they are all about raising capital.”

He also unveiled the regulator’s thinking about virtual accounts. “The government feels it appropriate to grant licenses to agencies being operated properly. The problem is that the government sticks to its position of being negative about institutionalizing cryptocurrencies actively like foreign regulators including Japan’s,” Jang said. “The government is in a position of letting banks open accounts after examining various issues like anti-money laundering (AML). But banks avoid this because of inadequate regulation and burden.”

The Korean government is currently trying to benchmark Japan and America’s New York State as far as regulation is concerned. “As hacking and investor protection issues emerged internationally, Japan and other countries came up with measures intended to address these problems. We are also aware of the trend to reinforce laws related to securities,” Jang said.

Asked about the chances of regulatory guidelines governing the peg of the Korean won, Jang said, “We have yet to discuss stablecoins. We are just looking at the international debate.” “The won itself is not an international currency. So the peg is hardly meaningful.” /yjk@decenter.kr

사동석 기자

sahds@dcenter.kr