Exclusive Interview with Reform Party Member Lee Jun-seok

Reform Party member Lee Jun-seok, who is well-known for having foreseen the potential of the virtual asset industry and directly investing in it from the early days, is recognized among the more than 15 million domestic virtual asset investors as a 'genuine expert' who deeply understands the virtual asset field. It is not uncommon to find investors in various virtual asset communities affectionately calling him 'Jun-seok hyung.'

Amidst the 'Trump 2.0' era, which advocates for pro-virtual assets, we asked Lee about the current state and improvements needed in domestic virtual asset policies.

"Government Regulations Fail to Reflect Global Industry Trends... Closed and Regulation-Centric"

Lee first criticized the current domestic regulations, saying, "They failed to reflect the rapidly evolving global industry trends and tried to forcibly fit virtual assets into the existing financial regulatory framework."

He pointed out, "The virtual asset policies of past governments remained stuck in a closed and regulation-centric approach," and "due to this regulatory environment, the issuance and listing of Korean coins have faced difficulties, leading to a decline in the competitiveness of the industry itself."

He continued, "To avoid falling behind in global competition, discussions on a comprehensive negative regulatory approach to the virtual asset market should take place in the public sphere," and "the authorities are still focusing heavily on investor protection in operating virtual asset policies. However, excessive regulation not only accelerates the outflow of capital and technology overseas but also poses a risk of weakening competitiveness."

Korean Exchanges Face 'Kimchi Coin' Disadvantages and Discrimination... "Root Cause is Regulatory Uncertainty"

In the case of the United States, which currently leads the virtual asset market, after President Trump's inauguration, the 'America First' policy has shown a tendency to empower U.S.-based virtual asset companies.

For example, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched their official meme coins, 'Official Trump' and 'Melania Coin,' on the U.S.-issued virtual asset 'Solana,' and major U.S. exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken listed them immediately upon release.

In contrast, the domestic industry is facing reverse discrimination against 'Kimchi Coins' (virtual assets associated with Koreans or Korean companies). In the case of a major domestic exchange, A Exchange, the proportion of Kimchi Coins among the virtual assets listed in the past three months was only in the 10% range. Another major domestic exchange, B Exchange, did not list any Kimchi Coins during the same period.

Lee pointed out that the cause of this phenomenon is 'regulatory uncertainty.'

He diagnosed, "Due to the restrictive business environment caused by regulatory uncertainty, companies that should be active across the virtual asset industry, including exchanges, are continuing defensive operations," while "overseas exchanges are leading global trends by quickly attempting new services based on flexible regulations."

He added, "President Trump is expected to prioritize national interests in all fields, including virtual assets, based on America First. Our country also needs to improve the coin listing environment," and "predictable policies should support Korean projects to be listed on domestic exchanges first, and based on this, global competitiveness should be strengthened."

However, he supplemented, "Rather than focusing on giving preferential treatment to domestic coins, it is necessary to approach it from the perspective of creating an environment where they can compete fairly with foreign coins first."

"Domestic Virtual Asset Industry is Falling Behind in Global Competition... Urgent Need for Development Discussions"

Lee predicted, "If the domestic virtual asset industry is left neglected like this, it is at great risk of falling behind in global competition, with domestic investors and funds flowing overseas, leaving the Korean economy isolated in the global digital finance competition."

He added, "For example, even in the current stock market, the government is belatedly introducing many policies to revitalize the domestic stock market, but consumers who have already judged it to have lost its appeal are increasing their overseas stock trading volume," and "the domestic virtual asset market also urgently needs innovative and flexible policy support in line with global trends."

Lee emphasized, "The government should strengthen communication with the industry to create an environment where companies can innovate freely and proactively clarify the regulatory framework to encourage technical and economic challenges. If not, in the long term, the domestic investors who have not experienced innovative services will turn their eyes to overseas markets due to falling behind in global competition."

He added, "In the upcoming second phase of legislation, I believe it is necessary to prioritize discussions on the direction of industrial development and the approach to virtual assets itself, such as corporate real-name accounts and stablecoin-related provisions, which are emerging as the core of the global financial market."