According to Newsis, the South Korean Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) announced on July 9th a legislative notice for the amendment of the "Venture Company Enforcement Decree," which proposes to remove the provision that restricts "blockchain-based crypto asset trading and brokerage" as a restricted industry for venture companies. This measure means that virtual asset trading and brokerage firms can now be recognized as venture companies and are expected to receive government support policies such as tax breaks. This move is seen as a policy response to prevent a "second Dunamu incident"—in 2018, Upbit's parent company, Dunamu, lost its venture company status due to related restrictions and was subject to 24.8 billion won in corporate tax, sparking heated discussions in the industry. [Wu Shuo]

South Korea Plans to Reclassify Virtual Asset Trading and Brokerage Firms as Venture Businesses