Some of the most important digital currency companies in Korea are Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone. From next year on, they will have to pay a license fee to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea. This is part of a larger effort by regulators to keep a closer eye on the crypto business.
The “Virtual Asset User Protection Act,” which the Financial Services Commission (FSC) passed on July 19, outlines the new fee structure. Local news sources say that the supervision fees for most significant markets will add up to about ₩300 million, which is about $220,000.
Fees Based on Revenue
Because of new rules, the fee is now based on a share of the operating income from the previous fiscal year. The fee that Upbit has to pay is ₩272 million, which is around $199,400. Coinone will pay around ₩6.03 million, which is $4,400, and Gopax will pay around ₩830,000, which is about $600.
Another significant player in the market, Korbit, didn’t have to pay the fee because it made about ₩1.7 billion ($1.2 million) in sales last year. The fee for supervision only applies to platforms that make more than 3 billion naira a year in sales.
At first, people from the industry wanted to put off putting the fee in place, but the choice was made faster because of upcoming FSS inspections that were required by the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.
The new law also makes crypto exchanges follow more rules, such as keeping at least 80% of their users’ funds in cold storage. The business should keep these assets separate from its cash and put them into “risk-free” assets. Some of the other things that exchanges have to do are read white papers about listed assets and see how many people visit those assets. Things that don’t follow the rules could be taken off the market.
The South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance has decided not to tax crypto income at 20% for now. This is what changed the rules. News stories say that the party in power might not put the tax in place until 2028.
