Yoon Chang-hyun Proposes Amendment to the Special Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, Focusing on 'Virtual Asset Specialized Banks and 6-Month Extension of Reporting Deferral'

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] On the 3rd, Yoon Chang-hyun, the Special Committee Chairman on Virtual Assets of the People Power Party, proposed an amendment to the "Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information" (hereinafter referred to as the Special Financial Transactions Act) to correct the unfair virtual asset service provider (hereinafter referred to as exchange) reporting system.

The core of this bill is to introduce a ‘virtual asset transaction specialized bank system’ so that exchanges can receive fair reviews for the issuance of real-name verified deposit and withdrawal accounts from banks, and to extend the existing grace period for exchange reporting by 6 months from the current period to allow the amended procedures to be applied.

According to the current Special Financial Transactions Act, virtual asset service providers must complete their reporting to the Financial Services Commission by the 24th of next month to continue providing KRW trading services as before. To report, they must obtain the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification from the Korea Internet & Security Agency and open a real-name verified deposit and withdrawal account (hereinafter referred to as a real-name account) at a commercial bank. However, with 53 days left before the reporting deadline, there have been no cases of passing or failing the real-name account review.

Chairman Yoon stated, “If banks continue to refuse or deliberately delay the review process itself, exchanges and users will inevitably suffer unfair damages,” and explained, “It is necessary to guarantee the right of virtual asset service providers to receive a fair review from banks on whether they meet the requirements for opening real-name accounts.”

The bill also addresses contradictory regulations. Under the current law, reporting is impossible without a real-name account, but at the same time, service providers who fail to report are prohibited from conducting financial transactions such as opening accounts, which increases uncertainty in the exchange reporting process. Regarding this, Chairman Yoon pointed out, “What matters is not whether a real-name account is held, but whether transparent transactions are actually conducted through that account,” and added, “Blocking the opening of accounts itself is an excessive regulation that goes against the purpose of the Special Financial Transactions Act.”

Chairman Yoon’s amendment to the Special Financial Transactions Act includes △introducing a ‘virtual asset transaction specialized bank system’ to guarantee the opening of real-name verified accounts once requirements are verified by specialized banks, △allowing banks to open real-name verified deposit and withdrawal accounts on the condition of ‘transactions through real-name accounts’ for virtual asset service providers, and △extending the grace period for existing exchanges’ reporting by 6 months from the current period, considering the time needed to apply the amendments.

Chairman Yoon added, “The Special Financial Transactions Act should focus solely on preventing money laundering,” and said, “If problems in application are identified during the law’s enforcement process, correcting those problems is also the role of the National Assembly, so I will persuade the ruling party to promptly handle this.”