Korea's Financial Watchdogs to Come Up with Supervision Plans for ICO Industry

The South Korean financial authorities are planning to come up with a specific plan to supervise the initial coin offering (ICO) industry after launching a fact-finding mission by Sept. 21. This has come one year after the government has prohibited all forms of ICOs in September last year.

In this regard, some express concerns that the government might step up its restrictions on ICOs even further. However, the financial authorities said that this is just for fact finding to map out a guideline, though it is planning to review whether some ICOs fall foul of the current laws, such as the Criminal Act, Capital Market Act and Act on the Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business without Permission.

An official from the Corporate Disclosure Team 3 of the Public Notice Review Division at the FSS said on the 13th, “After the joint task force consisting of cryptocurrency related agencies has banned all types of ICOs in September last year, the National Assembly and the related industry have continuously asked to prepare the follow-up measures. Regarding this, we have sent a questionnaire to companies that have carried out ICOs or are currently in the process to find out the actual situation."

The A4-sized questionnaire that is 16 pages long includes detailed questions asking the overall conditions of the companies, main characteristics of their projects, overall ICO industry, including the nature of tokens or coins, main public relations agents for domestic investors, benefits for token investors and cryptocurrency decision-making methods.

An official from the capital market division at the FSC said, “We have been launching a fact finding investigation on listed companies with stricter and more detailed standards than this time. The latest fact finding investigation on the ICO industry is to consider advance measures and check whether some violate the current laws, including the Capital Market Act.”