South Korea’s Democratic Party Promises to Push Local Financial Institutions to Launch Crypto Spot ETFs

PANews reported on May 7 that according to The Block, South Korea's opposition party, the Democratic Party, plans to promote its campaign promise to make spot cryptocurrency funds accessible domestically. The Democratic Party won 175 of the 300 seats in the general election in April, becoming the main force in Congress. The party has promised to encourage local financial institutions to launch spot crypto ETFs and allow retail investors to purchase these funds through tax-free accounts.

The Democratic Party plans to ask the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to review spot Bitcoin ETFs at the 22nd National Assembly meeting in June in order to open such products in the local market. Currently, the FSC does not allow the issuance or trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs because it is reported that the FSC believes that Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies cannot be used as legal underlying assets for such products. The Democratic Party is also considering the option of amending existing financial regulations to deal with the FSC's possible continued rejection.