Korean Lawmakers Rally Towards Crypto Regulations After Serious Murder Case In May: Report

South Korean legislators are pushing for tighter regulation of digital assets in the wake of a gruesome murder case involving digital assets.

May 18 according to Bloomberg reportsA Korean woman was abducted on March 29 and later murdered in a dispute believed to have stemmed from a disagreement over crypto-related losses to Do Kwon’s Terra Money ecosystem in May last year. Adding to a string of digital-asset related scandals including the collapse of .

The recent murder case has prompted calls for lawmakers to expedite the country’s first standalone crypto bill, which could be passed in a parliamentary vote later this month.

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“Finally there is consensus on both sides of the aisle that we need to bring a law as soon as possible,” behind hurunA lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea told Bloomberg.

“There were a lot of issues, so it was important to focus on one thing first – investor protection – to move quickly,” he said.

The new potential bill is called the Virtual Asset User Protection Bill, which wraps a total of 19 different crypto-related bills into one standalone bill.

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The law outlines a clear legal definition of virtual assets and imposes penalties for crimes such as insider trading and market manipulation, according to a draft version of the bill seen by Bloomberg. Additionally, the new bill will give the country’s Financial Services Commission the power to oversee crypto companies and custody of assets.

The act would also require that digital asset companies take out insurance to protect themselves from hacks, as well as reserve funds and stricter rules on account keeping. These rules are set to apply to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, while existing capital-markets laws will apply to tokens that are deemed securities by the government.

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