Startup Industry: "Limiting Major Shareholders' Stakes in Virtual Asset Exchanges Is Excessive Regulation"

Government Proposal to Limit Major Shareholders to 15?20%
Agreement on Enhancing User Protection Systems
"Need for Conduct Regulation Such as Strengthening Oversight"

The startup industry has urged regulators to reconsider the plan to limit major shareholders' ownership stakes in virtual asset exchanges to 15-20%.

The Korea Startup Forum (KOSPO) issued a statement on the 15th, saying, "While we agree with the intent to protect users and strengthen market trust, forcibly restructuring the ownership structure of already established private companies after the fact is excessive and constitutes an overly restrictive regulation with significant side effects, warranting careful reconsideration."

Recently, the Financial Services Commission announced its intention to introduce the Digital Asset Basic Act as a government bill, which would limit ownership stakes in domestic virtual asset exchanges to 15-20%. The bill also aims to establish dispersed ownership standards to ensure a governance structure comparable to that of alternative trading systems (ATS).

KOSPO emphasized that effective conduct regulation, rather than institutional regulation through ownership caps, is necessary. In major countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, which operate virtual asset exchanges, the focus is on strengthening oversight of changes in control and supervising management based on their qualifications and transparency, rather than imposing direct ownership limits.

KOSPO stated, "While there is a legitimate social demand to enhance the public interest of virtual asset exchanges and to advance user protection systems, public interest cannot be secured simply by artificially dispersing ownership stakes. It must be demonstrated in actual operations, such as whether user assets are safely stored and managed, and whether there are mechanisms in place to prevent conflicts of interest."

KOSPO added, "Imposing a de facto requirement for major shareholders of companies that have already reached the growth stage to forcibly sell their stakes within a certain period could go beyond issues of property and shareholder rights infringement and create serious uncertainty in our innovation ecosystem."

KOSPO concluded, "In the process of introducing such policies, it is necessary to thoroughly gather opinions from the industry, users, investors, and experts, as well as conduct regulatory impact assessments. Through this, we urge the government to develop a reasonable transition plan that can enhance market predictability."