@@@@Lee Seok-woo, CEO of Dunamu: "The Korean virtual asset market is a once-in-a-century opportunity... It must be reborn as a financial hub."

There was an opinion that Korea has an opportunity to leap as a financial and virtual asset hub as interest in virtual assets is rapidly increasing worldwide. To this end, it was argued that foreign investors should be allowed to use domestic exchanges and the definition of virtual assets should be clearly established.

Dai Seok-woo, CEO of Dunamu, said this at the 'Digital Asset Seminar' held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 20th. The event was co-hosted by the National Assembly Digital Economy 3.0 Forum and DAKSA.



The CEO explained that investors' interest in virtual assets is different from the past. He said, "Until 2019, there was a decoupling where the stock price went up and the BTC price went down, but now institutional investors are actively participating and interest in BTC is high, so BTC is showing a similar trend to traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate." He added, "BTC has already surpassed not only gold, but also the US Nasdaq." This means that BTC has established itself as a value storage medium equivalent to traditional financial assets.

However, the CEO pointed out that Korea could lose its competitiveness due to the lack of a virtual asset strategy. US President-elect Donald Trump recently declared that he would adopt BTC as a national strategic asset, and Japan is actively fostering the Web3 industry at the government level. On the other hand, it is argued that Korea still views the virtual asset industry negatively. The CEO said, "Korea has not changed from the time in 2017 when it viewed virtual assets as the 'second Yubari', and it is time to take fundamental measures in preparation for the inauguration of the next Trump administration."

The CEO cited the outflow of domestic funds as one of the major problems in the Korean virtual asset market. Currently, virtual asset spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and derivative trading are prohibited in Korea, so many domestic investors are turning to overseas exchanges. The CEO analyzed that "the amount of virtual asset-related funds that have flowed out overseas is over 130 trillion won, and if you include the unreported funds, it will exceed 200 trillion won."

Accordingly, there was an argument that foreign investors should be allowed to use domestic exchanges and Korea should leap as a financial hub. The CEO said, "An opportunity that comes once in a hundred years has come to the virtual asset industry (after Trump's election)," and "Korea, which has a large trading volume of virtual assets, has sufficient infrastructure." He added, "If foreign investors use domestic exchanges, the government's tax revenue will increase and various related industries will be created," and "if the KYC and AML systems are well established, Korea can leap as a financial center within 5-10 years."

He also advised that legal and institutional improvements are necessary. The CEO said, "According to the Special Financial Information Act, the definition of virtual assets is only one line," and "(with the growing expectations for the virtual asset market due to Trump's election) institutional improvement is one of the urgent tasks." He also said, "There are more than 10,000 virtual assets, but Korea treats them all the same," and "definitions of various types of virtual assets such as stablecoins are needed."

Choi Jae-heon, reporter

chsn12@decenter.kr