[따져보니] What is the future of virtual assets seen through the FTX crisis?

[앵커]
As you can see, real estate, stocks and the asset market are experiencing winter these days. In particular, the cryptocurrency market is being violently shaken by the bankruptcy of FTX, one of the top three exchanges in the world. Let’s take a look at the current address of virtual resources and look together into the future. Let’s take a look with reporter Jung Joon-young from the Ministry of Economy. Reporter Jeong, last year there were many predictions that the price of bitcoin would exceed 100 million won, but now a lot has changed, right?

[기자]
Right. Coincidentally, just a year before FTX filed for bankruptcy, Bitcoin hit an all-time high. It traded at around 83 million won on the domestic stock exchange. Currently, it is sideways at 23 million won.

[앵커]
It’s almost a quarter. Asset prices are all bearish, but why have they fallen so much more than the stock market?

[기자]
The sharp decline in virtual assets is largely due to the nature of the capital market, which is sensitive to psychology. Even so, there are plenty of dark clouds, but as the bad news continued from Earth-Moon to FTX, panicked investors raised their money at once.

[앵커]
There must be a reason why large-scale bad news often comes to toxic virtual assets. How are they analyzed?

[기자]
I can point out the inadequacies of the system. Meanwhile, governments in every country have been wary of introducing virtual assets into the system, fearing they would clash with the status of traditional currencies. It is very difficult to understand the concept. In the meantime, we have been ad hoc with the current legislation, but in reality, adequate supervision of the management of the market has been difficult.

[앵커]
By the way, Korea has a specific financial reporting law, so it is said that the “second FTX crisis” will be difficult. This statement is that the financial authorities even issued a press release?

[기자]
Yes, so domestic exchanges are expected to be a little safer. The top 5 exchanges in Korea are required to keep customer deposits segregated in real-name bank accounts in accordance with the special law. Therefore, it is true that deposits are not easily abused. However, the purpose of the special law is to prevent money laundering. Content related to user protection, industry promotion and market surveillance are omitted. About 14 virtual resource bills containing this content are currently pending in the National Assembly, and it appears the FTX incident will speed things up.

[앵커]
By the way, aren’t you worried that the market will shrink if they get regulated?

[기자]
Originally, it was a concern. But now, going through the Luna-Terra and FTX crises, the argument that market confidence should be restored through proper regulation is gaining strength. Currently, the United States and the European Union are also stimulating legislation.

[앵커]
So, this is the most curious question. Will virtual assets go up again?

[기자]
In the global industry, there is a warning that many virtual asset companies will go bankrupt as a result of this incident. Therefore, the market outlook is still very cautious. First, the main cause of the decline in asset prices is the prospect of an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

Oh Jeong-geun / President of Korea Financial ICT Convergence Society
“Since the race to raise interest rates in the US has somewhat ended and the virtual asset regulations that are missing in every country have been reviewed, it is rather more robust…”

After all, the outlook is mixed, right now the asset market is There is a lot of dangerous fog, so you need to be very careful with your investments, but the market itself will not go down, there may be new momentum after the steady upward trend in interest rates is broken and the market is resolved. .

[앵커]
Yes, ultimately the judgment rests with the investor, but institutional maintenance also rests with the government. Journalist Jung, I heard you right.