Deadline for Reporting under the Special Act on Virtual Assets Today
Strengthening the Structure of the Four Major Domestic Cryptocurrency Exchanges
[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Domestic cryptocurrency exchanges Gopax and Huobi Korea, which aimed to obtain real-name accounts from commercial banks by the reporting deadline under the Specific Financial Information Act, ultimately failed to receive the accounts within the deadline.
According to the industry on the 24th, Gopax and Huobi Korea announced that they will report to the financial authorities as coin markets trading through cryptocurrencies. Exchanges that have obtained Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification but have not received real-name accounts from commercial banks can only operate as coin markets.
It is known that Gopax has been discussing the issuance of real-name accounts with commercial banks for a long time. Industry insiders speculated positively about the discussions between Gopax and the banks, with some expecting that real-name accounts could be issued by the 24th. On the 8th, Gopax even showed a positive trend by conducting a pre-reservation event for real-name accounts.
However, on this day, Gopax was notified by the bank that issuing a real-name account would be difficult. Gopax stated, "We plan to complete the submission of the virtual asset business operator report as a coin market on this day," and "We deeply apologize for the unavoidable tight schedule leading to the termination of the KRW market operation ahead of the report submission." The Financial Services Commission has recommended that if a KRW market is to be closed to report as a virtual asset business operator, users must be notified at least seven days prior to the closure.
Huobi Korea also failed to obtain a real-name account. On this day, Huobi Korea said, "We negotiated closely with banks until the deadline but could not finalize the agreement on real-name account partnerships," and "We will inevitably report as a coin market operator and continue operations."
Huobi Korea cited the national audit as the reason for the failure to obtain the account. A Huobi Korea official explained, "The atmosphere in the financial sector darkened ahead of the national audit season," and "Banks negotiating with exchanges seemed to feel burdened about the real-name account partnership discussions." Huobi Korea temporarily suspended KRW deposits on the 17th.
As a result, it is expected that the four major exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit) system will become even more solidified. Upbit has obtained real-name accounts from K Bank, Bithumb and Coinone from NH Nonghyup Bank, and Korbit from Shinhan Bank, and they are operating KRW markets. On the 17th, Upbit announced that the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Financial Services Commission had accepted its virtual asset business operator report.
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