Researcher Urges Full Disclosure About Stablecoin Investment Risks

Kim Gap-rae, a research fellow at the Capital Market Research Institute, spoke at the Global Investment Center in Yeouido, Seoul, on May 24 about “The Current State and Major issues of the Digital Asset Market.”

His main point was the fact that “the virtual asset market has grown based on investor trust by enacting the ‘Basic Act on Digital Assets.’”

Initial coin offering (ICO) is the raising of initial development funds from investors and paying coins in return for issuing new virtual assets. Certain criteria need to be met before the ICO can issue any coins at the initial stage of the project.

ICO’s are, however, not regulated by the public offering price or asset allocation and there is no institutionalized regulation on the listing.

Kim is of the opinion that “if there had been a minimum disclosure of the typical investment risks of stablecoins, extreme optimism about Terra-Luna would not have spread in the trading market.” He also believes that the publication of a white paper in Korean, containing all the necessary investment information, should be made mandatory.

Kim also highlighted the fact that at the moment there is no regulation on illegal transactions such as unfail trade in digital assets and insider trading.

A professor of economics at Dongguk University, Park Seon-young, also added that “The Terra-Luna incident does not represent the entire development of the digital asset market.”

He concluded by stating “ in both the private and public sectors, investor protection must be achieved at the same time, and an atmosphere that considers responsibility rather than competition for market share is needed.”