A lot of things are changing in South Korea’s financial sector. Regulation is negatively impacting cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, but Ripple is urging the government of South Korea to loosen regulations and focus on these industries sooner rather than later.
Fostering Cryptocurrency in South Korea
South Korea is a major hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, coming in as the world’s third-largest crypto market. Despite the growing interest in this technology, the national government has actually stifled this innovative new technology. Ripple is urging the government to loosen regulations and is putting its money where its mouth is. By donating over $50 million to various universities through its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), the company wants to see cryptocurrency and blockchain interest soar in the years to come.
That is an interesting development for many different reasons. First of all, the donations by Ripple focus on a global educational approach to blockchain and cryptocurrency. Overall, Ripple is donating to 17 universities scattered across the globe. However, Korea University is the only East Asian institution on this list.
Forging a Path for Innovation
Korea University shows an interest in blockchain technology research, as is evident by their blockchain security center at the university’s graduate school of information. The donation by Ripple should further research into the algorithms powering this technology over the coming months and years.
Ripple senior VP Eric van Miltenburg comments:
We’ve seen that in other countries and in other technologies where you found a balance. Frankly if you think back to the early age of the internet, there were some people that only looked at the negative aspects of the internet saying we should shut it down for a while until we figure out what’s going on, and what’s good and what’s bad. But a more plausible approach would look at specific use cases and applying regulations in areas that would allow protection for users. So I think that philosophy would certainly pertain to regulations in Korea as well.
Additionally, the current regulations in South Korea will need to be revised as well to take advantage of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Banning all initial coin offerings and having strict cryptocurrency regulations have had a negative impact. Domestic blockchain firms are moving to other countries mainly due to the local restrictions. It will be interesting to see how the South Korean government plans to tackle this particular aspect moving forward.
Do you think the donation by Ripple will help lessen burdensome regulations by the government of South Korea over time? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock and The Korea Times.