South Korean Authorities Investigate Lawmaker Over Alleged Crypto Transfers

0 7

There’s a rumor of a conflict of interest around the South Korean opposition lawmaker Kim Nam-Kuk over crypto transactions. 

The growing domestic outrage alleged that Kim liquidated over $4 million worth of crypto assets before the lawmakers would enforce the Financial Action Task Force Travel Rule.

Lawmaker Moves Crypto Funds Before Implementation Of Law

A report from the news outlet, The Korea Times disclosed the joint investigation by the Korean authorities and the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) on Kim. 

The investigation is based on the allegation that Kim withdrew 800,000 WEMIX tokens between February and March 2022. 

Between January and February 2022, Kim of the Democratic Party of Korea reportedly held 6 billion Won in his digital wallet. 

However, the lawmaker was accused of transferring all his crypto holdings before the authorities could implement the Travel Rule on March 25, 2022. 

It is important to note that regulations mandate all crypto service providers to disclose the personal information of investors involved in trades exceeding a value of 1 million Won in digital assets.

The FIU of the Financial Services Commission received the report concerning Kim’s withdrawals. The South Korean regulator classified them as suspicious transactions and reported them to the prosecutor’s office accordingly.

On his part, Kim Nam-Kuk denied cashing out his digital holdings, stating that he only moved the funds to another crypto exchange. Also, he maintained that he was not obligated to report such transactions by law.

The cybercitizens have condemned the act of the lawmaker who had positioned himself as a “poor” politician in the past. The Mayor of Daegu, Hong Joon-Pyo, commented that Kim should resign from his political position. The person expressed disappointment in the legislator’s actions, describing it as a serious moral problem.

The Mayor recalled that Kim was among those that delayed crypto taxation through legislative voting. This suggests that the lawmaker used his legislative position to cover personal gains in digital assets.

Government To Fix Loopholes In Disclosure For South Korean Public Officials

The Korean authorities are still investigating Kim’s alleged crypto holdings. According to The Korea Herald, the outcome of the investigation will play a vital role in deciding if public officials must disclose their crypto assets.

Related Reading: Bitcoin To Drop Further? Whales Show Signs Of Dumping

South Korean Authorities Investigate Lawmaker Over Alleged Crypto Transfers

knife

Such a move will mandate all public officials to include digital asset holdings in their asset reports or disclosures. Crypto investment has been a heated subject in South Korea and other parts of the world.

In the United States plans, some members of Congress want to pass a bill that will bar members from investing in digital assets and stocks. The Senators and representatives must disclose such investments in their assets reports, but nothing prevents them from trading them. 

These investments have created controversy as many believe U.S. Congress members can benefit from insider trading without facing legal consequences. Just last week, a Democratic Congresswoman sold shares from the First Republic Bank just before financial behemoth JP Morgan acquired it.

Similarly, the Taiwanese government is considering extending disclosure reports of public officials to digital assets. Taiwon’s Ministry of Justice cited that the rule will ensure public servants disclose their crypto holdings. 

Featured image from Pexels and chart from Tradingview

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 70,437.87
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,572.77
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 0.998672
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 590.17
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 187.35
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,562.13
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 0.622166
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.199431
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.648957
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 54.90
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000031
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 4.96
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 9.61
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 19.50
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 560.21
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 70,385.86
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.119868
matic-network
Polygon (MATIC) $ 1.02
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 12.47
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 17.96
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 7.34
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 18.18
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 95.87
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 6.05
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 3.38
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 12.58
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 9.17
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.997063
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 32.31
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 1.69
render-token
Render (RNDR) $ 11.47
immutable-x
Immutable (IMX) $ 3.00
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.151214
the-graph
The Graph (GRT) $ 0.416377
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.136475
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 65.12
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 1.20
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.114802
optimism
Optimism (OP) $ 3.73
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 554.52
fetch-ai
Fetch.ai (FET) $ 3.26
injective-protocol
Injective (INJ) $ 38.24
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.044694
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000008
maker
Maker (MKR) $ 3,364.85
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.134568
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.08
thorchain
THORChain (RUNE) $ 9.24
theta-token
Theta Network (THETA) $ 2.99
arweave
Arweave (AR) $ 44.41
fantom
Fantom (FTM) $ 1.02
lido-dao
Lido DAO (LDO) $ 2.95
first-digital-usd
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.998708
gala
GALA (GALA) $ 0.067325
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 138.27
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 2.00
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 14.05
sei-network
Sei (SEI) $ 0.877514
floki
FLOKI (FLOKI) $ 0.00023
algorand
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.270794
rocket-pool-eth
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 3,935.10
flow
Flow (FLOW) $ 1.39
quant-network
Quant (QNT) $ 141.40
beam-2
Beam (BEAM) $ 0.037238
mantle-staked-ether
Mantle Staked Ether (METH) $ 3,626.20
conflux-token
Conflux (CFX) $ 0.488076
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 126.18
bitcoin-sv
Bitcoin SV (BSV) $ 92.80
jupiter-exchange-solana
Jupiter (JUP) $ 1.31
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000027
singularitynet
SingularityNET (AGIX) $ 1.34
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,691.09
starknet
Starknet (STRK) $ 2.33
elrond-erd-2
MultiversX (EGLD) $ 61.35
dydx-chain
dYdX (DYDX) $ 3.49
axie-infinity
Axie Infinity (AXS) $ 11.27
havven
Synthetix Network (SNX) $ 4.87
ribbon-finance
Ribbon Finance (RBN) $ 1.67
the-sandbox
The Sandbox (SAND) $ 0.697157
bittorrent
BitTorrent (BTT) $ 0.000002
gatechain-token
Gate (GT) $ 10.67
ether-fi-staked-eth
ether.fi Staked ETH (EETH) $ 3,563.59
bitget-token
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 1.00
worldcoin-wld
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 8.56
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
pyth-network
Pyth Network (PYTH) $ 0.914645
ondo-finance
Ondo (ONDO) $ 0.952297
tezos
Tezos (XTZ) $ 1.39
mina-protocol
Mina Protocol (MINA) $ 1.26
ronin
Ronin (RON) $ 4.33
ordinals
ORDI (ORDI) $ 62.37
axelar
Axelar (AXL) $ 2.12
ecash
eCash (XEC) $ 0.000066
flare-networks
Flare (FLR) $ 0.034796
chiliz
Chiliz (CHZ) $ 0.143144
apecoin
ApeCoin (APE) $ 2.03
decentraland
Decentraland (MANA) $ 0.677613
akash-network
Akash Network (AKT) $ 5.32
eos
EOS (EOS) $ 1.07