Hurdle against Fintech
A new fintech technology was jointly developed by a domestic securities firm and a domestic start-up. But the Financial Supervisory Service’s tardy response is stalling the use of the technology.
According to the securities industry, Daeshin Securities Co. developed a Bitcoin-based stock trading system and sent a non-action letter to financial authorities but has not received any reply from them for over three months. The system caught people’s attention as a new fintech that Daeshin Securities developed with Coinone, a Korean startup. Coinone called a Bitcoin exchange, changes Bitcoin into Korean currencies and the Korean currencies can be used to trade stocks.
Daeshin Securities and Coinone developed the technology in April and finished patenting it and applied to the Financial Supervisory Service for a non-action opinion. Typically, when a non-action application is received, the regulatory reform legal officer sends the application to the Financial Supervisory Commission. Then the commission sends it to the relevant department. The Financial Supervisory Service is required to reply within 45 days from the request. But the Financial Supervisory Service dawdled without taking any measures for nearly two months. Then on June 8, they sent the application to the Financial Supervisory Commission.
“As domestic regulations are positive ones, financial authorities’ speed and professionalism are vital to the promotion of the fintech industry,” said Dr. Lee Sung-bok at the Korea Capital Market Institute.