With the passage of the South Korean Presidential Impeachment Bill, expectations are rising for a re-discussion of laws and policies related to the virtual asset industry. The martial law incident and the subsequent impeachment situation ultimately led to the postponement of discussions on virtual asset-related policies. The virtual asset tax, first mentioned in 2020, was originally scheduled to be implemented in January next year, but it was decided to postpone its implementation for two years due to criticism of the lack of enforcement infrastructure. However, even with a two-year postponement, there are many other issues that need to be discussed, such as detailed tax standards for various ways of acquiring virtual assets such as staking, airdrops, and mining.
In addition to taxation, various policy and legal discussions are required around NFT trading, approval of the launch of cryptocurrency spot ETFs, and whether corporate accounts should be allowed. However, after the martial law incident, the National Assembly entered an impeachment state, and all related discussions came to a standstill. The virtual asset industry hopes that political stability can be ensured as soon as possible after the impeachment vote, and discussions on virtual asset-related bills will be held as soon as possible.
An official from the Korea Digital Asset Association (KDA) said, "We must formulate virtual asset laws as soon as possible so that we can legislate and implement laws related to investor protection first." The industry expects political stability to be a factor in restoring and enhancing investor confidence in the future. “Political stability will enhance trust in the financial system and virtual asset markets, thereby improving the investment environment,” an industry official said, adding that it will restore global investors’ trust in South Korean virtual asset exchanges and also have a positive impact on attracting capital and strengthening partnerships.