Yoon Suk-yeol, the conservative South Korean presidential candidate, has officially been elected as South Korea’s next president.
It has been reported that the election was one of the closest in South Korean history, which saw Yoon, representing the conservative People Power Party, claim victory over his more politically progressive opponent, Lee Jae-myung, by a margin of less than 1%.
However, cryptocurrency played a leading role in South Korea’s election debate, with both candidates releasing campaign-related NFTs. Their crypto-sympathetic stances are in opposition to former-President Moon Jae-In’s crackdown on crypto exchanges last year and helped curry favor with the younger, more crypto enthusiastic demographic.
Yoon promised to deregulate South Korea’s crypto industry, establishing his forward-thinking stance on digital assets.
He added:
"To realize the unlimited potential of the virtual asset market, we must overhaul regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable."
The report said that continuing his plans for crypto-positive developments pending his election, Yoon stated that he wished to help create blockchain-tech-related “unicorns” (startups that grow to be worth $1 billion or more) in South Korea. Yoon has also promised to introduce some form of legislation that would see crypto profits gained from illicit activity returned to its victims.
Likewise, in a possibly related development cryptocurrency Icon (ICX) the native token of the South Korean ICON blockchain, surged 60% in the past 12 hours. It's pulled back a little but was still up 40% at the time of writing. Yoon famously minted his signature on the blockchain at a televised start-up forum in December last year.
Regulation concerning crypto has been a minefield for South Korean politicians, with strict rulings seeing the bulk of South Korea’s crypto exchanges shut down in September of 2021. A lack of legislative clarity surrounding the taxation of digital assets has been a continual source of confusion for citizens and legislative bodies alike. Cryptocurrency is gaining popularity with young South Koreans. According to reports from local news outlets, young people have been leaving their jobs to pursue day-trading cryptocurrencies.
South Korea’s traditional stock market by contrast is dominated by four family-owned conglomerates, known as “chaebols,” which many believe to be corrupt and politically influential.
Thus, before the major crackdown on crypto exchanges in September last year, trading volumes on South Korea’s top exchanges were exceeding those of the stock market.
Source: Cointelegraph