South Korea Considers Crypto Disclosure for Officials
On May 17th, the Prime Minister of South Korea expressed the view that high-ranking officials should disclose their cryptocurrency holdings as part of their assets. During a government meeting, the Prime Minister discussed the case of Senator Kim Coin and raised the question of whether problematic virtual currencies should be included in high-level public property registration. The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of a thorough discussion and decision within the parliament.
Debate Arises over Mandatory Crypto Registration for High-Ranking Officials in South Korea
Drawing a parallel to valuable metals that are registered as assets, the Prime Minister suggested that cryptocurrencies could be similarly considered. He stated that he considered it appropriate to have a debate on this matter. Senator Kim, who has publicly disclosed his substantial investment in cryptocurrencies, has prompted a growing demand to investigate whether other high-ranking officials possess cryptocurrencies and should include them in the property registry. Currently, registering cryptocurrencies as assets is not mandatory and is left to the discretion of officials.
In March, the Secretary-General of Agriculture in the President’s Office revealed that the value of cryptocurrencies held by their wives had significantly declined to $150 million. This decrease was attributed to fluctuations in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
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Furthermore, the senator announced that he had sold all the cryptocurrencies he had acquired in the past year. The Senator reportedly liquidated $299 million from his Bitcoin exchange account and approximately $6,000 million from his altcoin account. In 2022, he incurred losses of $130,000 in each transaction, with total sales amounting to 29,700 USD and 1 USD billion, respectively.
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The government office appears to have requested disclosure of cryptocurrency holdings during the creation of the 2023 Regular Asset Change Guide in January. The guide specifies that if individuals hold virtual assets such as Bitcoin, they should be listed in the private section of the asset increase report. It includes the amount held, purchase price, and valuation as of December 31, 2022.
In previous years, Senator Kim of South Korea reported his assets as 8,241 billion Korean won in 2020, 11,103 billion won in 2021, 12,794 billion won in 2022, and 15,378 billion won in 2023. However, he had not previously mentioned owning any cryptocurrencies.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo emphasized on May 17th that cryptocurrencies should be included in the list of assets that top officials are required to report. Presently, it is left to the discretion of officials whether or not to disclose their cryptocurrency holdings.
