Investors call for delay in South Korea’s crypto tax implementation

A petition has been launched in South Korea requesting the government to delay the introduction of taxes on cryptocurrency gains. The petition, submitted to the National Assembly on March 21, advocates for a two-year postponement of the tax plan, which is presently scheduled to commence in January 2025. 

This request stems from concerns over a potential migration of crypto investors to overseas exchanges due to the country’s lack of readiness for such taxation. The petition has accumulated 10,888 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon in Asia, with a target of 50,000 signatures by April 20 to prompt a legislative review.

Furthermore, the petition calls for increased regulatory oversight of the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA), an advisory group comprising the top five cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. It criticizes DAXA’s decision-making process on the support and discontinuation of certain cryptocurrencies as opaque and subject to arbitrary judgment.

South Korea boasts a robust cryptocurrency market, highlighted by the performance of Upbit, the leading exchange, which has processed $185 billion in trading volume in March alone. This figure represents nearly 9% of the total global exchange trading volume. The fervor around cryptocurrency trading in South Korea has intensified recently, with trading volumes on local exchanges surpassing those on the country’s KOSPI stock market on certain days. Specifically, on March 11, South Korean exchanges recorded a trading volume of 11.85 trillion Korean won ($8.8 billion), exceeding the trading activity on the KOSPI, according to local reports.