Yoon: "Virtual assets tax-exempt up to 50 million won... Protection at the level of stock investment"

Announcement of the 'Safe Investment for Virtual Asset Retail Investors' Pledge on the 19th

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is announcing a policy pledge for safe investment for individual investors in virtual assets at the central party office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 19th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, has announced a pledge of 'tax exemption on coin investment profits up to 50 million won.' This is to win the hearts of virtual asset investors, including those in their 20s and 30s, totaling 7.7 million people. Along with this, he also promised to create a stable investment environment comparable to the stock market.

On the 19th, Yoon held a press conference at the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, titled 'Safe Investment for Virtual Asset Retail Investors,' stating, "The global virtual asset market size has exceeded 2,000 trillion won, and the daily trading volume has far surpassed the KOSPI market." He added, "The virtual asset industry is struggling due to government regulations and inconsistent administration, and investors are also suffering damages. We will protect virtual asset investors as safely as stock investors and improve the inconveniences in transactions."

To this end, Yoon unveiled the card of 'complete tax exemption on virtual asset profits up to 50 million won.' This means applying the same capital gains basic deduction as stocks, which is currently 2.5 million won. Although taxation has been postponed for one year, Yoon emphasized a stance of 'preparation first, taxation later.' He said, "It is difficult at this stage," and "The timing should be after establishing a regulatory framework for virtual assets and then observing for some time."

As a measure to protect investors, he viewed the enactment of the 'Digital Asset Basic Act' as a solution. Through judicial procedures, unfair profits from unfair trades such as price manipulation, wash trading, and market manipulation will be fully recovered. In preparation for hacking, system errors, etc., the insurance system will be expanded, and specialized financial institutions linking digital asset trading accounts with banks will be fostered to increase user choice.

A Digital Industry Promotion Agency (tentative name), which will serve as a control tower for new digital industries such as coins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), will also be established. Through this, collaboration with related ministries such as the Financial Services Commission, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and Ministry of Education will be carried out, and it will play a role in communicating with the public and private sectors, industry, academia, research institutes, and the public.

To revitalize the domestic economy, coin issuance (ICO) in Korea will also be permitted. ICO is a method of direct participation without intermediaries. However, since adopting the ICO method in the current situation could lead to investor damages such as pyramid scams, the exchange-issued (IEO) method with safety measures will be introduced first and gradually expanded. Yoon Chang-hyun, deputy head of the People Power Party Policy Headquarters, explained, "Currently, virtual assets are being created in places like Singapore, causing national wealth to flow out, but issuing them domestically will reduce such concerns," adding, "Domestic companies will also participate in consulting, which will have the effect of facilitating the domestic economy."

There are also plans to foster a new concept digital asset market through the activation of NFT trading. Yoon said, "In preparation for the emergence of various forms of new concept digital assets, we intend to support the development of various blockchain-based technologies and proactively establish a regulatory foundation," and "We will build a legal foundation to protect digital assets and introduce a negative regulation system to remove obstacles that hinder technology development."