A South Korean presidential committee has called for Bitcoin to be listed on the nation’s main bourse.

The Korean-language blockchain news outlet The Block Post reported Friday that the Presidential Committee on the 4th Industrial Revolution has advised authorities to consider directly listing Bitcoin (BTC) on the Korea Stock Exchange and launching Bitcoin derivatives.

The committee made the suggestion in a separately published policy appendix to a policy advisory released in late October. In the appendix, the committee called for pan-governmental efforts to react quickly to the new financial order of the digital finance era.

Citing the examples of U.S. and Swiss financial authorities, the panel said officials should consider medium- and long-term plans to bring crypto asset-related products into the mainstream, along with granting business licenses or adopting guidelines for crypto asset exchanges.

The committee also advised that financial institutions should be allowed to handle crypto assets and called for the domestic development of custody technology. The latter would free local banks and security companies handling crypto assets from dependence on overseas custody solutions.

Also in the Korean blockchain space…

  • South Korea Works to Bring Cryptocurrency Into the Mainstream
    (By Troy Stangarone, The Diplomat, Jan. 3)
    The DIplomat takes a look at South Korea’s efforts to bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream. The takeaway: “If South Korea has seen a short-run decline in cryptocurrency transactions as a result of regulation, the focus on establishing a proper regulatory structure should place South Korea in position to benefit from new regulated markets in the long-run.”
  • Government Confirms Crypto Profits Not Taxable in South Korea
    (By Kevin Helms, Bitcoin.com, Jan. 1)
    If you read The Iconist — and if you’re reading this, presumably you do — you already know this, but Bitcoin.com is also reporting how South Korea’s Ministry of Finance has confirmed that individuals’ profits made from cryptocurrency transactions are not subject to taxation…yet.
  • How To Really Help Free North Koreans Through Crypto
    (Yaya Fanusie, Forbes, Dec. 31)
    For CIA analyst and current Center for a New American Security adjunct senior fellow Yaya Fanusie calls on the crypto space and the NGO committee to “work together to create a campaign for cryptocurrency charitable giving that supports non-profit organizations that rescue North Korean refugees.”
  • South Korean Telecoms Giant SK to Unveil Ripple-based Charity Tool
    (By Tim Alper, Cryptonews, Jan 3)
    SK’s ChainZ donations platform uses the Ripple blockchain network and a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won, and provides a utility token to donors as a reward. SK plans to run a pilot campaign for the charity Korea Food for the Hungry International at the end of the month.