Korean National Assembly Makes Official Proposal to Lift ICO Ban

South Korea's National Assembly, the legislative arm of government, is pushing for the removal of the country's ban on domestic initial coin offerings (ICOs).

As reported by CoinDesk, the Korean regulator, the Financial Services Commission, outlawed token sales in September of 2017, saying they are over-speculative and constitute a "violation of capital market law." And while there were reports in March that the ban might be lifted, nothing concrete has happened to date.

Now, according to BusinessKorea, the National Assembly has officially proposed legislation to permit ICOs as long as investor protections are provided for.

The legislative and policy proposal was decided upon in a general meeting, held Monday, of the National Assembly's Special Committee of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The body further hit out at the government over what it perceives as its failure to introduce promised core regulatory reform aimed to expand the role of blockchain technology in the country, the article states.

The special committee went on to recommend the formation of a task force to bring about improved transparency of cryptocurrency trading in South Korea and help develop a "healthy" cryptocurrency trading industry.

The committee said:

"We will also establish a legal basis for cryptocurrency trading, including permission of ICOs, through the National Assembly Standing Committee."

An additional suggestion was that the government should set up a committee and new governance systems to "systematically" develop blockchain policies and provide support to firms working with the technology.

National Assembly image via Shutterstock