South Korea’s National Assembly has officially passed a bill into law requiring lawmakers and high-ranking government officials to disclose their holdings of crypto assets.
The new law is a response to a recent scandal involving a politician allegedly violating campaign finance laws using cryptocurrency.
Kim Nam Guk Prevention Act
according to a report From the local news agency News1, the relevant amendments to the National Assembly Law and the Public Service Ethics Law were passed unanimously on May 22 among all the lawmakers present each, with 269 votes and 268 votes respectively.
The amendment to the National Assembly Act puts cryptocurrency on the list of registered property of lawmakers and “special interests.” Meanwhile, the amendment to the Public Servants Ethics Law passed the Public Administration and Security Committee on the same day, making high-ranking officials and members of the National Assembly need to register their assets.
The bill was originally scheduled to be implemented in December, but it fell through Fast tracking To this month after the newly elected leader of the People’s Power Party, Representative Yoon Jae-ok, said the earlier date was “too late”.
“Given the current high level of public interest, especially with regard to legislators, it is not appropriate to enforce the law six months after it was passed,” the party leader said last week, while proposing a fast-tracked version of the bill last week.
“Public Interest” refers to a high-profile scandal surrounding Kim Nam-guk — who allegedly cashed out $4.5 million in cryptocurrency on the Wemix exchange early last year. The same lawmaker backed legislation in 2022 to defer a law that would apply a 20% capital gains tax to cryptocurrencies from 2023 to 2025, though he denied there was any conflict of interest.
However, these revelations have prompted investigations of the former Democratic congressman over suspected campaign finance violations, tax gatekeepers, and criminal possession of cryptocurrency.
Who are the politicians holding cryptocurrency in America?
US lawmakers are already required to disclose their cryptocurrency and bitcoin holdings, and among them only a few own any digital assets. Senator Cynthia Loomis open In 2021 she owned 5 bitcoins – she bought three for just $300.
Senator Ted Cruz also admitted to holding just over 2 BTC, while respecting the asset as a long-term inflation hedge and decentralized governance. Last month, that is He said He has a standing order to buy more bitcoin every Monday morning.
“I like bitcoin for the same reason the Chinese communist government doesn’t like bitcoin,” he said. “They don’t like bitcoin, and they banned it because they couldn’t control it.”
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