Pro-crypto candidate to become next South Korean president

Yoon Seok-yeol, a conservative former top prosecutor, has won the South Korean presidential election after defeating his liberal counterpart in a tightly-contested race. Yoon had 48.6 percent of the votes against his rival Lee Jae-Myung’s 47.8 percent, resulting in the conservative candidate winning by less than 1% after the final count.

Both the candidates offered a crypto-friendly stance during the election, with Yoon promising to reexamine the cryptocurrency regulations placed in the country and overhaul the unnecessary ones.

In a crypto forum held in January this year, Yoon remarked that the industry should operate without regulatory restrictions unless explicitly banned. “We must overhaul regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable,” he noted at the time.

Under the current Korean tax law, a 20% capital gains tax will be levied on cryptocurrency profits exceeding 2.5 million won ($2,024) annually from 2023. However, the elected president has vowed to raise the threshold for paying capital gains tax to 52.4 million won(US$42,450).

Meanwhile, Lee has spoken in favor of Play-to-Earn games and said the country should lead the global trend. Somewhat more aggressive in his stance, Lee accepted cryptocurrencies in donations and issued NFTs to those who donated funds for his campaign.

The post Pro-crypto candidate to become next South Korean president appeared first on Our Bitcoin News.