South Korea passes law requiring all officials to disclose crypto holdings

• Korean officials are now required to disclose any crypto holdings above $760.
• The bill outlining the new law was unanimously passed by lawmakers and ratified on Thursday, 25 May.
• Strict rules around crypto holdings for public officials come after a scandal where one Kim Nam-kuk was said to have held $4.5 million worth of crypto.

Cryptocurrency news out of South Korea states that the requirement that government officials disclose all their cryptocurrency holdings has been passed into law.

The National Assembly’s move to adopt the bill means South Korea lawmakers and other high ranking government officials will now have to make public their Bitcoin or other crypto assets they hold.

Korean officials to disclose their crypto holdings

According to a local news report by News1, the country’s National Assembly unanimously passed the “Kim Nam-guk Prevention Law” on Monday, 22 May and approved it in plenary on Thursday, 25 May, 2023.

The bill comes into effect a few days after Kim Nam-kuk, a former opposition party member, was revealed to have held crypto assets worth roughly $4.5 million on the Wemix exchange. The revelations caused uproar, with allegations of money laundering surfacing.

South Korea’s amendments to its National Assembly Act and the Public Service Ethics Act now obligates public officials to comply with the law if they hold any cryptocurrencies.

In particular, affected individuals will have to declare all crypto holdings that amount to $760 or more. The requirement is in place for disclosures involving cash, stocks, and bonds among other assets.