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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] The U.S. has approved the listing of the Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), but transactions will be banned in Korea. This is because the financial authorities judged domestic securities firms' bitcoin spot ETF brokerage as a violation of the current law.
"The brokerage of overseas listed bitcoin spot ETFs by local securities firms could violate the government's existing position on virtual assets and the Capital Markets Act," the Financial Services Commission said in a press release on the afternoon of the 11th.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs on the 10th (local time). Kiwoom Securities later announced on the afternoon of the 11th that it would list a new US bitcoin spot ETF, but it dropped it in about 30 minutes. An official of Kiwoom Securities said, "We posted a notice related to the launch of Bitcoin spot ETF and lowered it to protect investors."
Other securities companies are also withholding Bitcoin spot ETF transactions. An official at a securities firm said, "The financial authorities will not mediate related transactions by telling them not to do Bitcoin spot ETF transactions."
The Financial Services Commission is known to have blocked securities firms from brokering transactions on the grounds that virtual assets such as Bitcoin do not constitute the fund's underlying assets. The fund is based on underlying assets, virtual assets are not included in the underlying assets under the current Capital Markets Act. This means that bitcoin spot ETF does not fall under investment brokerage products under the Capital Markets Act.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
