Category: Korea

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Crypto News Korea Terra

South Korean Prosecutor Bans Terra Employees From Leaving the Country

Former employees of Terraform Labs have been reportedly prohibited from exiting South Korea as investigations into the company continue following last month’s Terra USD collapse.

Developers and other former staff have been unable to leave the country as prosecutors have imposed a departure ban on key personnel involved in the project:

Former Employees Knew Nothing of Travel Embargo

On June 20, the newly reconstituted Financial and Securities Crimes Joint Investigation Team announced a travel embargo had been put in place to prevent “persons of interest” in the case from leaving the country. The move could also be seen as preparation for additional investigative activities such as search and seizures, as well as subpoenas to be served on other prospective defendants.

One of Terra’s former developers, Daniel Hong, confirmed via Twitter that Terraform Labs employees had received an exit ban from the South Korean government. According to Hong’s tweet, none of the employees was notified to avoid any possibility of destruction of evidence as the investigation continues.

The move comes only weeks after South Korean authorities targeted Terraform Labs staff for questioning and moved to freeze the foundation’s assets.

Hong shared his dismay at the ban, stating that it shows employees are being treated as criminals, which he described as “unacceptable”.

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Blockchain Crypto News ICON Korea Markets Regulation

New South Korea President Sends ICX Token Soaring 70%

The native token of the South Korean-based ICON blockchain, ICX, has jumped 70 percent following the election of a new crypto-friendly president.

In the 24 hours following the election of Yoon Suk-yeol, the ICX token went from a low of US$0.61 to a high of US$1.06. It has since retraced some of those gains and currently sits at US$0.83 – still down some 93 percent from its all-time high of US$13.16, reached in January 2018.

Crypto Plays Important Role in Close Result

Yoon Suk-yeol, who only came to politics in 2021 having previously worked as a high profile prosecutor, was the candidate for the conservative opposition party, People Power Party. His victory was not clear-cut, with the final margin being under 1 percent, reflecting how contentious politics has become in South Korea recently.

Suk-yeol ran on a platform promising to deregulate digital asset markets, lower taxes on crypto and reimburse victims of crypto fraud, in addition to tackling the stagnating South Korean economy and soaring housing prices.

New Direction for Crypto in South Korea

The previous South Korean president, Moon Jae-In, had been relatively anti-crypto, cracking down on South Korean-based exchanges in 2021 and forcing the vast majority of them to shut down.

The new president has taken a forward-looking approach to crypto, vowing to take what he characterises as a more realistic regulatory stance:

To realise the unlimited potential of the virtual asset market, we must overhaul regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable.

Newly elected South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol

Crypto Becoming More Politically Relevant 

In a sign of its growing political significance, crypto was used by both major parties to appeal to younger demographics. In addition to offering crypto-friendly policies, the candidates from both major parties minted election-related NFTs to demonstrate their crypto bonafides during the campaign.

Following the executive order released by US President Biden this week, this election in South Korea may signal the beginning of a trend towards increased regulatory clarity and adoption for cryptocurrencies globally.

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Industries Korea NFTs Theta Theta Network

New Samsung Galaxy Smart Phones to Come with Theta-Based NFTs 

To celebrate the launch of new flagship models Galaxy S22 smartphone and S8 tablet, tech giant Samsung will be dropping collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through ThetaDrop to South Korean customers who pre-order the new devices.

Samsung has once again included NFTs in one of its new offerings. After the pre-order period, customers who pre-order and pre-book the new Galaxy S22 smartphone or S8 tablet will need to register on ThetaDrop – the official Theta NFT marketplace – to collect their commemorative NFTs via their phones.

Samsung announcement (Korean). Source: Samsung

Pre-orders opened on February 9, and the devices are planned to launch officially on February 25.

According to a tweet from Mitch Liu, co-founder and CEO of Theta Network, customers who hold the commemorative NFT will be provided with “ongoing membership benefits and privileges”.

Our NFT collaboration with Samsung Electronics truly exemplifies global adoption of Theta’s blockchain technology and marks an important milestone in the growth of our core blockchain purpose built for the video, media and entertainment industry.

 Mitch Liu, co-founder and CEO, Theta Labs

Samsung’s Long-Standing Relationship with Theta

Samsung has worked with the Theta network on previous occasions but has now decided to use the blockchain for its specialised capabilities in video, media and entertainment to mint and issue the NFTs:

Samsung’s long-standing relationship with Theta began in 2019 when its venture capital arm invested in Theta Labs as part of its commitment to new technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and fintech. Samsung also collaborated with Theta when developing its new smart TVs that could act as a media hub and a node to expand the Theta network.

TVs can become relay nodes that are effectively on the edge of the network, and onboarding hundreds of thousands to millions of these devices could significantly bolster Theta’s network capacity.

Theta Network

Samsung has made quite a strong push into the crypto sector and has even opened a flagship store in Decentraland. The Korean company has on multiple occasions added some kind of blockchain functionality to its products, which will certainly support mainstream adoption in the long run.

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Crypto Exchange Crypto News Korea Regulation

South Korea Exchanges Stop Trading of Certain Cryptos Amid Regulation Pressure

In order to operate in South Korea, exchanges now need an ISMS certificate issued by the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA). After receiving this certificate, 11 out of 20 crypto exchanges have either delisted certain coins, or issued warnings about them.

Although it’s been easier for high-volume crypto exchanges to find banks willing to vouch for them, smaller exchanges have been struggling to get their papers in order. The deadline for compliance is early September, by which time all crypto exchanges operating in South Korea must obtain the certificate or cease operations.

Dodgy Exchanges On Notice

According to The Korea Times, banks are now required to treat crypto exchanges as high-risk clients and will be required to deny service to crypto exchanges deemed dodgy. In addition, fines worth a total of US$89,519 have been issued to cryptocurrency exchange employees who trade on the platform they are employed by, in a bid to reduce unfair advantages.

Among the platforms delisting tokens are Upbit, Coinbit and Huobi.

Upbit has delisted tokens such as Paycoin, Maro, Observer, Solve.Care and Quiztok:

Upbit will always do its best for your safe transactions.

Coinbit Suspends Eight, Warns 28 More

Meanwhile, Coinbit has suspended the trade of eight other cryptocurrencies and set in place a warning for 28 more that will appear if a potential customer wants to trade those cryptocurrencies.

Huobi Token Delisted, but for How Long?

A curious case of delisting is Huobi. Despite being one of the first companies to get the necessary paperwork done, Huobi has halted the trade of its proprietary Huobi Token. There is no information on whether this is a temporary delisting or not.

The delisting of coins deemed risky by exchanges in South Korea seems to be part of a bigger trend in the APAC region, with Thailand also banning “meme coins” and some NFTs, and China subjecting cryptocurrencies to the usual scrutiny.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Korea

South Korean BTC “Kimchi Premium” Plummets After Soaring Over 23%

South Korean BTC 'Kimchi Premium' Plummets After Soaring Over 23%

Crypto trading on South Korean exchanges began increasingly since the amended crypto regulation became effective in March. Possibly due to the crypto resurgence in the country, the price of Bitcoin significantly surged way beyond the price in the global market, as seen in the so-called “Kimchi Premium,” which is an indicator measuring the premium of the Bitcoin price across South Korea, compared to the global market.

Bitcoin Traded at Over $70,000 in Korea

Following a 23 percent increase in Kimchi premium, Bitcoin reached an all-time high (ATH) of over US$70,000 (79,422,000 won) early on Wednesday. BTC’s premium price in South Korea attracted the attention of many traders as it presented a good arbitrage trading opportunity. However, due to the newly-enacted regulation in the country, it wasn’t possible for traders to move off USD from the South Korean market. 

The new cryptocurrency regulation prohibited exchanges in the country from serving foreign users. It also introduced strict capital flow restrictions, which makes it very difficult to move large funds from the country through cryptos – a measure aimed at reducing money laundering and terrorism financing.

Kimchi Premium Drops as Bitcoin Declined to $56,000

Later on Wednesday, the Kimchi Premium began plummeting from as high as 23 percent to 15 percent within a few hours.

BTC Korea Premium Index [CryptoQuant]

Some traders blamed the recent correction in the market as a cause for the drop in the South Korean BTC premium. However, Ki-Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant (an on-chain crypto analytics platform), said the premium might have dropped because some traders figured out how to cash out from the arbitrage opportunity. 

As Kimchi Premium dropped, the price of Bitcoin on the global market declined to about US$56,000.