Vice Minister Jo Juhyeon’s On-Site Visit to Busan Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox Zone

Busan Blockchain Special Zone Selected as 'Excellent Zone' in 2021 Performance Evaluation

Cho Ju-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is experiencing a demonstration service during a visit to the Busan Blockchain Regulatory Free Zone on the 10th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced that Vice Minister Jo Joo-hyun visited the Busan Blockchain Regulatory Free Zone (hereinafter referred to as the Zone) site on the 10th. Vice Minister Jo's visit to the Zone site is the fourth following visits to the Sejong 'Autonomous Driving Zone' in June, the Gyeongnam '5G Utilization Next-Generation Smart Factory Zone', and the Gyeongbuk 'Next-Generation Battery Recycling Zone' in July. The purpose was to check the progress of the Zone projects and to directly communicate with Busan Zone companies and related organizations to hear their voices regarding difficulties in the commercialization process after demonstration.

On the day, Vice Minister Jo visited the Busan Blockchain Venture Convention, where companies in the Busan Blockchain Zone are located. Busan was designated as a blockchain Zone in July 2019 and has been promoting demonstration projects related to smart logistics, local currency, and real estate collective investment services based on blockchain technology. Among these, three demonstration projects with proven safety received temporary permits in July 2021. Based on the results of the demonstration projects, and with recent amendments to the Location Information Act and the Personal Information Protection Act, the temporarily permitted projects are expected to be commercialized nationwide without separate regulatory exemptions.

During a meeting to review the status of the Zone projects and listen to the difficulties of Zone companies, Vice Minister Jo said, "The Busan Blockchain Zone is a model case of a Zone selected as an excellent Zone in both 2019 and the 2021 performance evaluation," adding, "In addition to the temporarily permitted projects, we hope that demonstration projects requiring further regulatory adjustments will also be successfully completed, and that the Busan Blockchain Zone will take the lead in organizing blockchain industry systems and creating new markets in the innovative industry sector."