South Korea: Are Busan’s Digital Asset Exchange Plans in Jeopardy?
The South Korean city of Busan’s plans to launch a city-run, blockchain-powered digital assets exchange may be in peril, a report claimed on April 24.
Per Naeil Shinmun, the project is “showing signs of trouble” after effectively delaying its official launch.
Busan’s digital asset exchange plans have been in the pipelines for some time, but have already been beset with issues.
The city initially wanted to become the first in the world to launch a crypto exchange. However, this plan hinged heavily on promised changes to central government policy that have yet to materialize.
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have been outlawed in South Korea since 2018. And while successive governments have promised to review the ICO ban, it remains firmly in place.
This, and high-profile crypto scandals, have left the domestic crypto sector in limbo. Busan initially hoped to create and then sell off the exchange to private sector firms.
After ditching plans to list conventional cryptoassets, the city announced it would instead list assets such as tokenized real estate, intellectual property rights, carbon emissions rights, and tokenized commodities.
However, in recent times it has stated that the exchange will instead initially focus solely on tokenized precious metals.
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