Build the market's infrastructure first, then tax it
Taxing crypto gains at 22% from 2027 while listed shares stay untaxed will push investors into workarounds and invite more regulation.
- To
- Ministry of Economy and Finance; Financial Services Commission; National Assembly
- From
- Kim Nam-woong, Co-founder and CEO, Four Pillars (interview)
- Date
- 2026.09.13
2026.09.13
What we ask
- Defer or scrap the January 2027 tax on crypto gains, in line with the decision to abolish the financial investment income tax on shares.
- Put in place spot crypto ETFs, institutional custody and other ways for exchanges to diversify before tax begins.
- Revisit the start date once the infrastructure and the pending regulatory overhaul have settled.
After three delays, crypto tax is due on 1 January 2027: 22% (20% income tax plus 2% local tax) on annual gains above ₩2.5 million.
With the financial investment income tax abandoned, ordinary investors pay nothing on listed-share gains. Taxing only crypto is unfair to one asset class and will distort the market.
The workaround it creates
The government plans to let listed companies and corporates open exchange accounts. Once Korean listed firms act as digital asset treasuries, investors can buy their shares instead of the coins and capture the price rise without the tax.
Capital then follows after-tax returns rather than economic substance. The likely response is more rules: caps on corporate crypto holdings, limits on exchange IPOs, even forced sales by validator companies.
Sequence matters
Coinbase has grown into custody, validation and its own network. Korean exchanges still earn almost everything from trading fees.
Tax them first and volumes fall, exchange revenue falls, and corporate tax receipts fall with it. The sensible order is institutional infrastructure first, then tax.
Adapted from Digital Times: 김남웅 포필러스 대표 "가상자산 과세 강행시 시장 왜곡 우려" (Korean).