Cryptocurrency developed as a defining query within the SNAP presidential elections in South Korea. The candidates competed for support from a growing basis for digital assets over generations.
All three leaders have introduced crypto -friendly suggestions. This includes the legalization of Spot Bitcoin (BTC) stock exchange fund (ETFs) and the relief of bank rules that currently limit the trade with Fiat to Krypto to simply five platforms.
The vote on June 3 should come about two years earlier, triggered by the elevation of former President Yoon Suk-Yeol in keeping with his controversial statement of war law at the tip of 2024.
Yoons 2022 campaign was strongly based on promise to reform crypto regulations – largely on younger voters. This time, the political concentrate on digital assets has only increased because older generations begin to pour considerable prosperity into digital assets.
Three leading presidential candidates have promised the Pro crypto guidelines.
The debate of the presidential election against stable coins
This election has three leading candidates, and everybody has promised to advance the local crypto economy.
Lee Jae-Myung from the opposing Democratic Party lost within the last elections against Yoon and returns with a second crypto-friendly campaign.
Kim Moon-Soo runs under the present government party, the People Power Party (PPP). Former President Yoon distanced himself from the PPP before selecting and Kim has a brand new direction for the broken conservative basis defined.
Lee Jun-Seok was once the youngest leader of the PPP. He now leads his own newly founded reform party, a smaller party that he founded in January 2024 after shared with the ruling block.
“The political sphere has actively accepted [cryptocurrencies] As a vital campaign agency, ”Park Sung-Jun, head of the blockchain research center at Dongguk University, told CoinTelegraph.
“Driven by the transition to a digital economy, the advance after transparency of political financing, the spread of blockchain-based political participation technologies and growing demands on the protection of the investor, [crypto] has emerged in South Korea as a big economic, social and political issue. “
Lee Jae-Myung and Kim have each undertaken to facilitate strict bank rules that require crypto exchange in an effort to work with licensed banks to supply Fiat services-a system that has created an almost monopoly with only five approved platforms. The existing structure excludes the participation of the businesses because users must open the accounts at partner banks with their legal identities.
Lee has also proposed to bring a stablecoin onto the market in an effort to reduce the dependence on tokens published abroad.
Lee Jun-Sseok pushed back and located that South Korea once won an algorithmic stable coin, Terrakrw (KRT), a part of the Terra ecosystem that suffered a collapse of several dollar dollars.
“Lee Jae-Myung suggests starting one other stablecoin without presenting safety precautions. Which assets will support it? How are market risks treated? How will we avoid repeating past failures?
During a live debate, the 2 candidates collided against stable coins again, during which Lee Jae-Myung spoke out for the safety of central and Fiat supported stable coins.
Lee Jae-Myung was Yoon's opponent within the 2022 elections when he also campaigned for crypto-friendly guidelines. However, he was less aggressive than Yoon, who presented several pro-crypto guarantees. Some of them have never been implemented, equivalent to lifting bans for games for games (P2E) and initial coin offers.
Lee Jun-Seok, reports because the “second semiconductor industry” in South Korea, which was greater than a fifth of the country's entire exports in 2024. He added that regulations that relieve blockchain-based P2E games speed up the exodus of the creative industry.
P2E games remain prohibited in keeping with local regulations, but after the beginning of a brand new title of Nexon, certainly one of the most important wild developers in South Korea, interest has recently increased amongst investors, along with a brand new cryptocurrency that’s connected to its economy.
Crypto guarantees test old and recent voters
By the tip of 2024, South Korea had a rise of 25% in comparison with the primary half of the 12 months, in keeping with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Investors within the thirties recorded the best growth of 29%, followed by the Nineteen Forties (27%), while investors rose over 50 by 25%.
The results of the FIU show that older investors have larger investments. By the tip of the 12 months, 221,000 investors in Krypto held no less than 100 million Won (approx. $ 73,000). Of these were 172,500 – or 78% – over 40.
In February, the top of the Financial Industry Association asked the supervisory authorities to approve Bitcoin and Ether ETFs, citing older investors. He argued that ETFs offer more confident engagement than direct investments.
The approval of Bitcoin ETFs was a vital campaign promise for Lee Jae-Myung and Kim. The step follows the growing global dynamics after the USA, the world's largest market and a vital South Korean trading partner, could see Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024.
“Cryptocurrencies play a certain role in our society, but they’re ultimately certainly one of the worldwide trends. When the USA took the lead, we got here within the footsteps. It is a bit disappointing – we could have taken over ourselves,” said Cho Jaewoo, deputy professor of social sciences on the Hansung University, to CoinTelegraph.
However, the country's capital market law is a barrier that doesn’t recognize crypto as justified assets which can be based on ETFs. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) also checks legal processes to enable Bitcoin ETFs as a part of its committed crypto committee.
Lee ahead within the presidential election voter survey
Yoon's failed coup accelerated the presidential election and brought unresolved questions within the local crypto industry again urgently.
“In the 2022 presidential election, the cryptocurrency was considered speculative and never trustworthy. In the 2025 elections, nevertheless, it was a vital political problem, with great candidates for institutionalization and financial production to be pressing to the investment realities confronted by young people,” said Park from Blockchain Research Center.
South Korea is certainly one of the world's largest cryptoma markets. In the primary quarter of 2024, the Korean won essentially the most traded fiat currency against crypto, which was largely powered by retail investors. Institutional actors stay on the side and are waiting for his or her turn to begin the pilot trade for skilled investors.
The crypto guidelines were once considered campaign strategies to influence younger voters, but this 12 months they’re seen as an economic and social problem that affects several generations. In these elections, older generations enter the digital area and speed up the demands for regulated investment brick geese equivalent to ETFs.
“Things have modified so much. There were even questions and answers to virtual assets through the presidential debates, and related discussions appear to be rather more lively. In the past, people have checked out it with skepticism, but now it feels as if the general public is getting more neutral and making their very own judgments,” said Cho.
According to local media surveys, Lee Jae-Myung and Kim are the 2 leading candidates. According to a survey that led from 44.9% to 35.9% from May 23 to 25, Lee is much behind with 9.6%, although he has increased almost 3% from the provisional survey that made every week ago every week.
The twenty first presidential election will happen on June 3.
