S Korea’s New Top Regulator Faces Scrutiny Over Strategy Shares, Crypto Comments
South Korean lawmakers have criticized Lee Eok-won, the nominee for the put up of chairman on the Financial Services Commission, for getting shares within the Bitcoin (BTC)-keen US agency Strategy.
Per the South Korean media shops Jose Ilbo and News1, Lee Eok-won claimed that he had solely invested in blue-chip US shares “to be able to see what investor sentiment is like.”
Lee Eok-won was talking in response to lawmakers at a National Assembly affirmation listening to on September 2.
The FSC is the nation’s high monetary regulator and has the ultimate say on the nation’s crypto rules. However, President Lee Jae-myung has beforehand referred to as for the FSC’s abolition.
Recent developments seem to counsel that the President could have reversed or delay his plans to scrap the FSC.
Several lawmakers and media shops have criticized the selection of Lee Eok-won as FSC chairman after discovering he has a big portfolio of abroad shares, together with NVIDIA and Tesla shares.
Critics say that this runs counter to the President’s insurance policies. Lee Jae-myung needs to breathe new life into the home inventory market, which has stagnated for a number of years.
‘Not a Good Look for Gov’t’
The major opposition People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon took goal on the authorities, saying:
“[Nominating Lee Eok-won] is just not a superb search for this administration, which is supposedly attempting to usher within the period of the ‘KOSPI 5,000.’”
The authorities launched a particular KOSPI 5,000 committee in late June, as a part of a bid to spice up the worth of the home market by over 50%.
PPP lawmakers referred to as Lee Eok-won’s nomination “inappropriate” as a result of his holdings in corporations like Strategy, the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury firm. The nominee responded:
“I wasn’t good at coping with shares [during my time at the ministry]. [After I left the post,] I went out and received some market expertise. I needed to see how the inventory market labored and see what investor sentiment was like.”
Kim, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, stated:
“Who would select spend money on the KOSPI when [the FSC Nominee] is specializing in US shares as an alternative of the home market?”
‘No Intrinsic Value in Crypto’
Lee Eok-won was appointed as the primary deputy minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in March 2021.
Recently submitted information exhibits that the nominee’s complete inventory and fund investments are value 71.26 million received (over $51,000). He invested virtually $8,000 of this quantity in direct US inventory purchases, together with Strategy shares.
Lee Eok-won has also faced criticism this week from crypto advocates after his comments on the value of cryptoassets.
The nominee stated that BTC and different cash have “no intrinsic worth” and couldn’t be categorized as currencies or monetary merchandise.
He additionally poured chilly water on speak that the federal government and pension funds may very well be allowed to launch strategic Bitcoin reserves.
Domestic crypto advocates declare that statements like these sound like they belong to a bygone period. They say that regulatory chiefs in South Korea made comparable feedback in the course of the Bitcoin growth of 2017-2018.
Critics Call Comments ‘Outdated’
News1 wrote that a number of crypto business insiders suppose that Lee Eok-won’s angle lags “behind world traits.”
An unnamed crypto business worker stated that Lee Eok-won’s feedback mirrored “an invalid and inappropriate opinion. The identical particular person stated:
“The argument that crypto has no intrinsic worth is inappropriate at a time when massive US and different world firms are utilizing cryptoassets as strategic reserves. Cryptoassets like Bitcoin possess digital utility, together with safety and transferability.”
Lee Eok-won was non-committal when requested in regards to the probabilities of the FSC approving a Bitcoin ETF. He stated:
“I perceive that there are numerous expectations and issues in regards to the influence of introducing a Bitcoin spot ETF. We will assess world regulatory traits to ascertain a potential technique of introduction […] and talk about the matter with the National Assembly.”
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