Gary Gensler Set to Hold Crypto Regulation Talks with Head of South Korea’s Financial Regulator: Report

The head of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service plans to meet with SEC Chair Gary Gensler to discuss crypto regulation.

According to a report published Monday in South Korean news outlet Chosunbiz, Lee Bok-hyun, head of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), is set to meet the SEC and Gensler in January.

The head of the FSS purportedly intends to discuss the current state of the cryptocurrency market and discuss the direction of supervisory policies that will impact the space. Additionally, the standards by which the United States determines the security nature of virtual assets is also expected to become a major topic of discussion.

“Regulatory cooperation between countries is important for borderless virtual assets,” said an unnamed South Korean government official.

The article also noted that South Korea has introduced digital asset legislation this year aimed at enhancing consumer protections for cryptocurrency investors, which is scheduled to take effect in July 2024. According to KuCoin data, approximately a quarter of adults aged 18 to 60 in South Korea engaged in cryptocurrency investments during a six-month period, establishing the country as one of the significant markets for cryptocurrency trading.

The enhanced consumer protections are being implemented in response to a surge in fraud within South Korea’s crypto community, prompting regulators in the country to target the largely underregulated crypto space. In 2022, the collapse of South Korean crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon’s Terra-Luna ecosystem led to a $40 billion crypto market crash.

In March, Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro and subsequently sentenced to four months in prison for using falsified travel documents. It was rumored that Kwon could be extradited to the United States before South Korea.

Yesterday, however, the Montenegro Appeals Court rejected a decision by a Montenegro high court that approved the extradition of Kwon to either the U.S. or South Korea, meaning that Do Kwon will remain in Montenegro for the time being, according to an announcement published Tuesday by the Montenegrin authorities.

The rejection by the Appeals Court was based on the failure of the investigating judge to afford the defendant, Kwon, an opportunity to be heard regarding the U.S. extradition request, as required by Montenegrin law.