Eun Sung-soo: "Coin at Risk of Becoming Trash... Musk Would Face Legal Action if in Korea"

Attendance at National Assembly Government Questioning Session on Economic Affairs

Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, is listening to the remarks of Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum at the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 15th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jin-ho] Eun Sung-soo, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, clarified on the 23rd regarding his past controversial remarks on cryptocurrency regulation, stating, "I was warning that if cryptocurrency exchanges do not register, the coins could become worthless."

On the same day, during a government economic public Q&A session held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, in response to a question from Oh Ki-hyung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, Eun said, "I apologize for the harshness of my past expression, but I spoke that way because it is better to be shocked now than in September."

Earlier in April, Eun appeared before the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee and mentioned the possibility of shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges, saying, "If they go down the wrong path, problems may arise," which sparked strong backlash from investors and the political sphere.

Regarding Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and his Twitter mentions of cryptocurrencies such as Terra Coin and Bitcoin, which had a huge impact on the market, Eun responded, "Although anger rises, realistically, the possibility of claiming damages is difficult."

He added, "If Musk had done the same thing domestically, for example with stocks, he would have faced legal action."

Chairman Eun also said, "We (the Financial Services Commission) regret that we cannot intervene in cryptocurrency price fluctuations, delistings, or trading suspensions."