korea

South Korean investors are once again pushing to delay the cryptocurrency capital gains tax scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2027, but regulators insist on proceeding as planned. According to the South Korean National Assembly's electronic petition system, a petition requesting a two-year delay of the crypto tax plan has garnered 50,000 valid signatures, reaching the legislative review threshold, and will be automatically submitted for consideration by the relevant standing committee.South Korea plans to impose a 22% tax (including a 20% basic tax rate and a 2% local tax) on the portion of annual income from digital assets exceeding 2.5 million Korean won (approximately $1,856), covering income from the sale, transfer, and lending of cryptocurrency assets. This tax has been postponed three times since it was first discussed in 2022. Petitioners argue that the majority of crypto investors are suffering significant losses, with major South Korean crypto companies experiencing a decline in operating profits of up to 90%. Implementing the tax at this time would kick young people's wealth ladder away and could push investors toward offshore platforms.In May of this year, a petition calling for the abolition of the crypto tax reached the 50,000 signature threshold within eight days of submission but did not advance further. Meanwhile, the government's stance remains firm, with the nominee for the Minister of Economy and Finance, Lee Heung-ik (phonetic), stating last weekend that the crypto tax plan is proceeding as scheduled, and the National Tax Service will announce detailed tax standards later this year.

The Bank of Korea recently reviewed the reasons for the fluctuations of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) in the "Monetary and Credit Policy Report for September 2026." The report shows that as the KOSPI continues to rise, the contribution rates of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to the index's increase have rapidly increased.Especially during the process in June this year when the KOSPI surged from 8000 points to 9000 points, the contribution rates of these two stocks to the index's rise reached as high as 99%.

According to South Korea's "JoongAng Ilbo," China's semiconductor industry is organized through collaboration among the central government, local governments, state-owned financial institutions, and enterprises, forming a system for fundraising, factory construction, and infrastructure support. The China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund has a first phase of 138.7 billion RMB, a second phase of 204 billion RMB, and a third phase of 344 billion RMB, totaling 686.7 billion RMB, with investments in companies such as SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, and Yangtze Memory Technologies.Changxin Memory, established for 10 years, has risen to fourth in global DRAM market share, with a net loss of 21.13 billion RMB over the past three years, while R&D and equipment investments during the same period reached 185.2 billion RMB, with Hefei's state-owned capital providing about 80% of the funding for early projects. South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are responsible for investments, employment, technology development, and support for partners. The South Korean government plans to guide 622 trillion KRW in private investment by 2047 and provide 17 trillion KRW in low-interest loans and 1.1 trillion KRW in semiconductor ecosystem funds, but most of the burden will fall on enterprises.Park Kyung-soo, Executive Vice President of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association: The semiconductor industry will fall behind in the next upturn if investment stops; even during downturns, R&D, equipment investment, and orders for materials and components must be maintained, requiring long-term policy, financial, and tax support. China is catching up with a national-level support system, and South Korea also needs a response system involving the government, political circles, financial institutions, and enterprises to act together.

According to foreign media reports, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rejected a prepayment proposal for electricity bills put forward by the Korea Electric Power Corporation. The proposal originally required the two companies to pay electricity bills in advance to fund the construction of the power grid for a new technology cluster. Utility companies across Asia are struggling to keep up with the growing demand from the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries due to tight funding.The Korea Electric Power Corporation's proposal is estimated by local media to total 250 trillion won, equivalent to five years' worth of electricity bills. A spokesperson for the Korea Electric Power Corporation stated via text message, "The two companies ultimately rejected the proposal from the Korea Electric Power Corporation." According to local media reports, the two chip manufacturers are concerned about the uncertainty of whether the current semiconductor boom can be sustained over the next five years.

According to South Korean media MK, Min Byeong-deok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, revealed that the South Korean "Basic Law on Digital Assets" will be promoted for formulation within the year, with a public hearing planned for this month, and the formal advancement of the bill review will begin in November after the national government audit concludes. However, considering that the National Assembly will also conduct national government audits and budget reviews, the legislative timeline may be postponed until the first half of next year.In addition, the South Korean Financial Services Commission has announced a phased implementation roadmap for Security Token Offerings (STO), and financial institutions are also advancing tokenization system testing and global infrastructure cooperation. South Korea's digital asset regulation is gradually shifting from institutional discussions to the preparation phase for implementation.

The main securities exchange in South Korea will trial evening trading next Monday, extending the trading hours for almost all local stocks until 8 PM, up from the regular closing time of 3:30 PM.This adjustment is the first of its kind among major exchanges in Asia and is a step towards the Korea Exchange's goal of achieving 24-hour trading by December 2027. The new trading period will test whether the market can maintain sufficient liquidity after the extended trading hours and whether there is actual demand from investors for additional trading periods.Lee Young-jae, a senior investment manager at London-based Baillie Gifford, stated that a longer trading window can enhance investor flexibility and may attract more trading-oriented investors with higher turnover rates, as well as hedge fund participation. Edward Kim, head of Korean equity sales at Bank of America, noted that this is another step in the continuous development of South Korea's capital markets and enhancing accessibility for global investors.

According to NBC, North Korea is utilizing remote IT workers from third countries such as Iran and Lebanon to assist in infiltrating American companies and obtaining funds to finance its weapons programs. Alerts issued by the U.S. and several foreign agencies in July indicated that North Korean IT workers "seek to sign contracts with the intention of remitting salaries back to relevant North Korean agencies," while also posing internal threats to companies, involving data leaks, cryptocurrency theft, and sensitive information theft.As governments like the United States increase countermeasures, North Korea is increasingly leveraging third-country IT workers to secure job interviews, and after obtaining work contracts, the relevant positions are typically taken over by North Korean agents. Reports indicate that these foreign IT workers are scouted on LinkedIn, with some earning about $500 per month in cryptocurrency to work part-time as "interview assistants."Cointelegraph reported in May, citing data from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, that state-affiliated North Korean hackers and threat actors caused cryptocurrency losses exceeding $2 billion in 2025, a 51% increase year-on-year. The Bank of Korea estimates that despite facing global sanctions, North Korea's GDP will still grow by 3.5% in 2025.

Circle's euro stablecoin EURC compliant with MiCA is now live on the South Korean exchange Upbit, covering KRW, BTC, and other markets, providing Korean users with a more convenient access channel.Circle is the issuer of the US dollar stablecoin USDC, and EURC is its euro stablecoin. Upbit is one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea.

The South Korean government is about to announce a large energy investment project in the United States to support the construction of artificial intelligence in the U.S. The potential value of the agreement exceeds $100 billion and plans to fund the construction of up to eight nuclear power plants and a natural gas project by South Korea.Previously, Trump and Lee Jae-myung reached an agreement to reduce most tariffs from 25% to 15%.

According to the Central Daily News citing data from the National Tax Service, there were a total of 423 cases of inheritance and gifting of virtual assets in South Korea in 2025, amounting to 45.862 billion Korean won, which represents an increase of 2.4 times and 3.4 times year-on-year, respectively.Among these, there were 103 cases of gifting virtual assets to minors under 18 years old, totaling 4.034 billion Korean won, which is approximately 2.7 times the amount of 1.47 billion Korean won in 2024.South Korea plans to further strengthen tax regulation on virtual assets starting in 2027, incorporating VASPs such as Upbit and Bithumb into the unified inquiry scope for financial assets related to inheritance and gifting.

On September 8, South Korean semiconductor concept stocks showed mixed performance, with related asset markets remaining active. According to data from the Gate platform, SK Hynix (000660) is currently priced at $1,332.38, with a 24-hour increase of 0.56%; Samsung Electronics (005930) is currently priced at $200.26, with a 24-hour decrease of 0.18%.According to CoinGlass data, both SK Hynix and Samsung have high trading activity in the contract market. Among them, trading of related stock derivatives on Gate is active: the SKHX contract has a position amount of nearly $158 million, ranking second across the network, with a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $177 million; the Samsung contract has a position amount of $9.51 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $15.8 million, both ranking second across the network.

The National Assembly Budget Office of South Korea released a report stating that stablecoins could save South Korean merchants between 370 billion and 5.15 trillion Korean won (approximately 275 million to 3.8 billion USD) in payment processing fees each year. The report also warned that the widespread adoption of stablecoins could weaken banks' role as credit intermediaries and disrupt token pegs during large-scale redemptions. It suggested introducing reserve requirements, limiting stablecoin rewards, and strengthening regulation of tokens that may threaten financial stability. Regarding the issuance rights of stablecoins, there are differences between the Bank of Korea and the Financial Services Commission: the Bank of Korea prefers issuance to be dominated by bank-controlled issuers (holding at least 51%), while the Financial Services Commission believes excessive restrictions may hinder innovation. In addition, South Korea plans to expand the scope of tokenized securities by February 2027, with subsequent phases connecting blockchain-based securities markets to stablecoin payment infrastructure. A study released by the Bank of Korea earlier this month also found that directly trading USD stablecoins with local currency on Binance could depress the local currency exchange rate.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Park Woo-yeol, the chief researcher at Shinhan Financial Investment, stated that the traditional "60% stocks + 40% bonds" strategy has weakened due to the rising correlation between stocks and bonds, and he recommends allocating 8% to alternative assets and 2% to digital assets.His analysis shows that a combination of gold and Bitcoin configured at an 8:2 ratio performs relatively well on a risk-adjusted basis.

According to the Korea Herald, a federal court in Washington, D.C. has ordered the seizure of a wallet asset involved in money laundering by North Korean overseas IT workers, including 158,123 USDC and 54,574 USDT, with a total value of approximately $212,700. The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to confiscate a total of $7.74 million in North Korea-related cryptocurrency assets.

LayerZero announced that the South Korean digital asset custody institution BDACS has adopted LayerZero Labs' OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token) standard for the Korean won-backed stablecoin KRW1, achieving native cross-chain interoperability.LayerZero stated that KRW1 thus becomes the first Korean won stablecoin that can be natively transferred across major DeFi ecosystems, with its supply able to flow seamlessly across networks without the need for wrapped tokens, avoiding liquidity fragmentation.

According to a report by the Korean News Agency, Matthew Dawson, co-founder of Ethereum Institutional, visited South Korea for the first time and held meetings with local major banks, securities companies, asset management firms, and exchanges to establish cooperative relationships. Dawson stated that South Korea has strong financial institutions and a developer community capable of fully utilizing blockchain infrastructure, and pointed out that the recent policy direction on token securities released by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) provides a good opportunity for cooperation.He anticipates that South Korean institutions, which currently start with private chains, will eventually upgrade to public blockchains, and emphasized that Ethereum, with its security, liquidity, and neutrality, is the ideal infrastructure for carrying core institutional assets. In terms of organizational expansion, Ethereum Institutional plans to introduce a head of Asia within 6 to 7 weeks and recruit technical, business, and consulting talent in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan.

KB Securities warned that the inventory of memory semiconductors at Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix has fallen to less than 10 days of supply, and the available supply next year will be significantly insufficient. The agency reported on Monday that investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure is expanding at an unprecedented pace, leading to a severe supply shortage in the memory chip market. A key factor is the transition to HBM4, which requires about three times the wafers of traditional DRAM, and limited wafer capacity will reduce the available capacity of traditional DRAM.KB Securities expects that next year, the demand for DRAM and NAND will exceed supply by more than 10 percentage points. Research director Kim Dong-won stated that artificial intelligence servers will consume HBM, server DDR5, and enterprise-grade solid-state drives, potentially leading to a historic shortage. Global hyperscale data center operators have raised their expectations for artificial intelligence infrastructure investment next year to $1.3 trillion, a 60% increase from the previous year. The agency anticipates that memory semiconductors will account for 57% of total investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure next year, up from 14% last year, with TrendForce estimating this ratio could reach as high as 68%. Samsung Electronics' stock price has dropped nearly 28% from its peak, while SK Hynix has fallen nearly 40%.