Yoon Suk-heun, the newly appointed governor of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), seems to be siding with crypto enthusiasts who support a relaxed approach to industry regulation, the Korea Times report.
Speaking at the press conference after his approval to the post, Yoon stressed his desire to cooperate with other financial authorities in the country to formulate a solid regulatory framework beneficial to the crypto industry and the financial system as a whole.
"The FSS will collaborate with the FSC [Financial Services Commission] when an inspection on policies and financial institutions has different configurations associated with different scopes. FSC inspects policies, while the FSS examines and supervises financial institutions but with the oversight of the FSC," the new FSS head told reporters.
Yoon refused to elaborate on specific policies the FSS may apply to domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, saying only that the agency will gradually review and address the existing issues in the industry.
Yoon's appointment is a welcome development since he is known as an activist and reformist and is likely to avoid restrictive or aggressive measures. He will officially assume his duties on May 8, taking charge of the agency that operates under the umbrella of the FSC and is responsible for supervising financial institutions.
In December, the FSC announced its intention to ban anonymous domestic trading, obligating cryptocurrency platforms to check the identities of traders. It means that retail investors have to open real bank accounts instead of virtual ones to continue trading. These measures led to fears of a total crypto ban, but the rumors were dispelled in January.
Industry wants to be regulated, not suffocated
The country's four major cryptocurrency exchange operators – which include Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit - fulfilled the requirement and transferred virtual accounts to real name-based ones, paying the price in drastically reduced trading volumes.
"The daily transactions of cryptocurrencies plummeted to around 400 billion won from 4 trillion won before the financial regulators implement the new regulation," said Lee Jeong-ah, vice president of Bithumb.
Lee also explained that local banks were reluctant to accept new crypto traders.
"We don't oppose regulations. But you can't entirely kill the markets by simply imposing regulations. What the new FSS chief should think about is how the regulators should provide remedies to help crypto trading and blockchain technology get better," an Upbit official added.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest