[금강일보 정은한 기자] With the enforcement of the Specific Financial Transaction Information Act (Special Act), the Big 4 system of cryptocurrency exchanges has been consolidated, creating a sense of crisis in local start-ups including the Chungcheong region. The opportunity for listing is shrinking due to increased investment anxiety in exchanges that have not received real-name accounts.
According to the Financial Information Analyst (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission, 42 out of 43 companies that received ISMS certification in the business report closed on the 24th completed the submission of the report. However, only four exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit, have completed real-name confirmation deposit and withdrawal account issuance confirmation. They can continue to operate the KRW market, so the Big 4 system has been consolidated.
The only exchanges that have received ISMS certification are 25 companies, including Poblegate, Huobi Korea, Hanbitco, Gopax, Gdac, Cordax, Bitmon, Borabit, Cashierest, Aprobit, ProBit, and Coinbit. Since they have not been issued a real-name account confirmation from commercial banks, they can only operate a coin market that trades with key coins such as BTC and ETH.
Shin Mo (37, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon), an office worker who is investing in cryptocurrency, said, “Altcoins used to be listed first on exchanges other than the Big 4. To make such a preemptive investment, it took a lot of risk, but since the Korean won market has been discontinued, I am hesitant about whether to invest willingly. As of the 24th, the trading volume and market price are going down.”
The problem is that opportunities for local startups to enter the cryptocurrency market are shrinking. A Daejeon cryptocurrency startup official said, “Only when local startups succeed in entering the cryptocurrency market, technical know-how can be accumulated to help local small and medium-sized enterprises enter the cryptocurrency market. As the financial difficulties are poor, the prior route has been to enter small and medium-sized exchanges where listing standards are not strict and fees are low. The fee burden will also increase,” he said.
In the case of major exchange A companies, which have increased their preference for investment since the enforcement of the Act, listing fees, which were between 300 million and 600 million won in June last year, are now rising to 1.5 to 3 billion won. It is known that this cost includes ‘illegal listing fees’ in addition to the fair listing fees incurred by virtual asset management such as server expansion and wallet management. In March, the CEO of a large exchange who listed insolvent virtual assets for a listing fee was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for breach of trust under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. In other words, there is a polarization phenomenon in which only startups with financial power enter the cryptocurrency market regardless of the superiority of blockchain technology.
On the other hand, local start-ups warn that if the current government does not consider the four blockchain technologies (decentralization, security, transparency, and scalability), it may lag behind in the global market if it regulates cryptocurrency.
By Jeong Eun-han, staff reporter padeuk@ggilbo.com
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