According to a local news agency in South Korea named Yonhap, the South Korean government announced that there will be a 22% corporate tax and 2.2% local income tax for all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.
This big tax announcement came right after the conclusion of the unprecedented anti-money laundering probe that was put to practice into six major South Korean banks. This showed a 36 times increase in commissions from virtual accounts that were connected to crypto exchanges.
Yonhap also reported that the South Korean exchange Bithumb made 317.6 billion won (nearly $295 million) last year in total. Thus, the exchange is expected to pay about 60 million that were won in taxes according to the new tax percentages announced this Monday.
What’s also interesting is that the announced tax percentages are in line with the South Korean tax code for all companies that make a yearly income of over 20 billion won (nearly $18.7 million dollars).
Bithumb which is the largest exchange globally and in the country, was hacked in February 2017, which lead to a $7 million loss in Bitcoin and Ether. The security breach has put pressure on many South Korean exchanges and was recently linked to North Korean hackers. This is why the South Korean government decided to step up the game and officially legalize the enforcement of cryptocurrency regulation within the country.
However, it seems that the South Korean public doesn’t like this move. In fact, they fought back with a petition to stop the recent government regulations and have so far reached more than 200,000 signatures.
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