South Korea presidential front-runner pledges to approve Bitcoin ETFs
South Korea’s Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung has reportedly become the latest presidential candidate to promise the approval of spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other crypto-friendly measures, should he be elected.
Lee announced his crypto promises on May 6 as part of a broader initiative to provide more investment opportunities for Korea’s youth, one of the main target demographics for the fast-approaching June 3 election.
“I will create a safe investment environment so that young people can [build] assets and plan for the future,” The Korea Economic Daily (KED) quoted Lee as saying in Korean.
He also promised the legalization of spot crypto ETFs, lower transaction fees, and more consumer protection measures.
Lee’s Democratic Party of Korea is the favorite to win the presidential election with 42% support, according to a survey conducted by Korea’s National Barometer Survey between April 24 and 30. Korea’s acting president, Han Duck-soo, came in second at 13%.
This is the first time Lee has mentioned crypto as part of his presidential campaign, KED noted.
The Democratic Party made similar promises in its 2024 general election campaign, including passing spot crypto ETF legalization. However, progress stalled, KED said.
South Korea’s People Power Party makes similar promises
South Korea’s ruling party, the People Power Party, also reportedly made crypto policy promises in late April, which included allowing spot crypto ETFs, dismantling Korea’s controversial one-exchange-one-bank rule, and establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins.
The one-exchange-one-bank rule in South Korea is a regulation that limits each crypto exchange to working with only one local bank. It is intended to prevent money laundering and strengthen transparency by ensuring that the identities of crypto investors can be verified when trading crypto.
South Korean industry officials estimate that 16 million or 31% of the country’s 51.7 million people have access to a crypto account.
Related: North Korean spy slips up, reveals ties in fake job interview
Kim Moon-soo is running as the People Power Party’s candidate — a party previously led by Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached after he declared martial law in December.
The controversial measure triggered a considerable fall in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and other cryptocurrencies. However, most coins recovered when the martial law was lifted around six hours later.
Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of Yoon in a unanimous 8–0 decision decision on April 4, effectively removing him from office.
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United States President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that most Americans will receive a $2,000 “dividend” from the tariff revenue and criticized the opposition to his sweeping tariff policies.
“A dividend of at least $2000 a person, not including high-income people, will be paid to everyone,” Trump said on Truth Social.
The US Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments about the legality of the tariffs, with the overwhelming majority of prediction market traders betting against a court approval.
Kalshi traders place the odds of the Supreme Court approving the policy at just 23%, while Polymarket traders have the odds at 21%. Trump asked:
“The president of the United States is allowed, and fully approved by Congress, to stop all trade with a foreign country, which is far more onerous than a tariff, and license a foreign country, but is not allowed to put a simple tariff on a foreign country, even for purposes of national security?”
Investors and market analysts celebrated the announcement as economic stimulus that will boost cryptocurrency and other asset prices as portions of the stimulus flow into the markets, but also warned of the long-term negative effects of the proposed dividend.
Related: Bitcoin faces ‘insane’ sell wall above $105K as stocks eye tariff ruling
The proposed economic stimulus will boost asset markets, but at a steep cost
Investment analysts at The Kobeissi Letter forecast that about 85% of US adults should receive the $2,000 stimulus checks, based on distribution data from the economic stimulus checks during the COVID era.
While a portion of the stimulus will flow into markets and raise asset prices, Kobeissi Letter warned that the ultimate long-term effect of any economic stimulus will be fiat currency inflation and the loss of purchasing power.
“If you don’t put the $2,000 in assets, it is going to be inflated away or just service some interest on debt and sent to banks,” Bitcoin analyst, author, and advocate Simon Dixon said.
“Stocks and Bitcoin only know to go higher in response to stimulus,” investor and market analyst Anthony Pompliano said in response to Trump’s announcement.
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Italian banks have expressed their support for the European Central Bank’s (ECB) digital euro initiative, but are calling for the implementation costs to be spread out over several years due to the financial burden it places on the sector.
“We’re in favour of the digital euro because it embodies a concept of digital sovereignty,” said Marco Elio Rottigni, General Manager of the Italian Banking Association (ABI), during a press seminar in Florence, Reuters reported on Friday.
“Costs for the project, however, are very high in the context of the capital expenditure banks must sustain. They could be spread over time,” Rottigni added.
The comments come as the central bank digital currency (CBDC) project has met resistance from some French and German banks, who fear the introduction of an ECB-backed retail wallet could drain deposits from commercial lenders.
Related: Digital euro CBDC is ‘symbol of trust in our common destiny’ — ECB head
ECB sets 2029 target for digital euro launch
At its October 29–30 meeting in Florence, the ECB’s Governing Council approved moving the project into its next phase after a two-year preparatory period. A pilot phase is expected to begin in 2027, with a full rollout tentatively scheduled for 2029, pending the adoption of EU legislation in 2026.
European Parliament member Fernando Navarrete, who is leading the parliament’s review of the proposal, recently presented a draft report calling for a scaled-down version of the digital euro to protect private payment systems such as Wero, a joint initiative by 14 European banks, per the report.
Rottigni said Europe should pursue a “twin approach,” combining the ECB’s digital euro with commercial bank-backed digital currencies. “What Europe shouldn’t do is fall behind,” he added.
Related: Malaysia’s central bank sets three-year roadmap to pilot asset tokenization
ECB signs deals with tech firms for digital euro development
Last month, the ECB finalized framework agreements with seven technology providers to support the development of a potential digital euro. The agreements cover fraud and risk management, secure payment data exchange, and software development.
Among the firms involved are fraud-detection specialist Feedzai and security technology company Giesecke+Devrient (G+D).
According to the ECB, the selected firms will also develop features such as “alias lookup,” enabling users to send or receive payments without knowing the recipient’s payment service provider and offline payment capabilities.
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