South Korean Crypto Regulation Official Found Dead
Jung Ki-joon, head of South Korea’s Economic Policy Coordination Office, was found dead on Sunday in his home, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a government spokesperson. Jung, who was 52 years old, may have suffered a heart attack while sleeping. However, the precise cause of death will become known when the coroner’s office delivers its report to the police.
Jung was behind Seoul’s new laws to ban the use of anonymous crypto accounts and stop banks from offering settlements for unidentified crypto trades on exchanges.
"The government spokesman said “he died from some unknown cause. He passed away while he was sleeping and [his] heart [had] already stopped beating when he was found dead.”"
Korean news service Yonhap reported that Jung’s acquaintances saw him dealing with considerable stress recently because he had been working on the new legislation to limit illicit activities and speculation in the crypto market.
At a briefing in January, Jung said digital currencies such as Bitcoin were not a form of legal money, and the authorities would “strongly respond to excessive cryptocurrency speculation and illegal activity.” He even admitted that a total crackdown on crypto trading activity in the country was a live option. However, things have not gone that far as local regulators softened their stance and came up with the rules mentioned above.
Jung’s job was to coordinate the opinions and positions of different offices and ministries in the government.
According to data from CryptoCompare, an estimated 4.5% of Bitcoin global transactions in 2017 involved the South Korean won, which made it the most commonly used fiat currency after the US dollar, the Japanese yen, and the euro.
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