It was revealed that the assets that customers must receive back from virtual asset exchanges that have reported closure are worth more than 17.8 billion won.
According to the 'Current Status of Virtual Asset Exchanges Reporting Business Suspension/Closure' submitted to the Financial Services Commission by People Power Party Representative Kang Min-guk of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 24th, as of the 20th of last month, among domestic virtual asset business operators, 11 exchanges had closed their operations and 3 exchanges had suspended operations.
The number of subscribers who need to return cash assets and virtual assets from the closed exchange is 33,096. The business with the most subscribers is Cashierest (19,273 subscribers), followed by Zidac (5,853 subscribers) and Probit (5,174 subscribers).
The total cash assets held by the virtual asset business operator whose business has ended is 1.41 billion won, and the virtual assets are 16.416 billion won, for a total of 17.817 billion won. This means that the assets that customers must receive back amount to 17.8 billion won.
The virtual asset business operator with the largest amount of customer assets is Cashierest, with KRW 13.04 billion (KRW 640 million in cash assets and KRW 12.4 billion in virtual assets). Next is Probit with KRW 2.245 billion (KRW 367 million in cash assets and KRW 1.878 billion in virtual assets), and Huobi Korea with KRW 579 million (KRW 297 million in cash assets and KRW 282 million in virtual assets).
Among the three companies that have ceased operations, the exchange with the largest number of customer investment assets is Oasis (143 people, 16.22 billion won), followed by Flat Exchange (1,485 people, 14.35 billion won) and Bitrade (92 people, 80 million won).
Rep. Kang pointed out, “As the coin exchange industry is in a slump and the cost of responding to regulations, such as reporting to various financial authorities, is increasing, the number of exchanges that close or suspend operations is expected to increase further during the ongoing Financial Services Commission renewal review process,” adding, “There is a high possibility that the number of subscribers who cannot get their invested assets back will increase further.”
He said, “In order to prevent a chain of losses for investors, the Financial Services Commission should focus on managing companies that will terminate or suspend operations in the future during the renewal review process,” and “It should also thoroughly check whether the ‘Digital Asset Protection Foundation’ can actually perform its duties.”
