South Korea's financial authorities are moving to impose an income tax on cryptocurrency trading from next year, but investors in digital tokens have raised a nagging question about the proposed taxation. A growing number of cryptocurrency investors have cried foul over whether the government will collect a tax on virtual currencies while top policymakers see no intrinsic value in crypto assets amid a lack of regulations to protect cryptocurrency investors. Like many governments around the wo

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, tracking an overnight Wall Street plunge that was spurred by a tax raise proposal in the United States. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 25.91 points, or 0.82 percent, to 3,151.61 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks deepened losses as investors weighed the impact of the potential tax hike on the wealthy in the United States on social spending. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.94 percent, with the

South Koreans used fintech company apps nearly nine times more than those operated by traditional banks every month last year, a report showed on Thursday, suggesting rapid growth of the digital finance market driven by its young and tech-savvy population. According to global mobile app analytics firm App Annie, mobile users of the nation’s top five fintech apps, such as payment solution Kakao Pay, Toss, and Kakao Bank, used the apps 225 times a month on average last year, tantamount to

Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest crypto exchange, has been enjoying its profit surging with transactions exceeding that of global competitor Coinbase, market data showed Thursday. For the first quarter of this year, Dunamu, which operates Upbit, Korea’s largest digital coin exchange by transaction volume, is expected to see revenue of 590 billion won ($528 million) with extreme profit rates. The company’s estimated operating profit is 544 billion won and net profit at

South Korean stocks rebounded Thursday as investors sought oversold stocks after the benchmark index took a breather the previous session. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 5.86 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 3,177.52 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.7 billion shares worth some 14.6 trillion won ($13.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 467 to 383. Foreigners sold a net 147 billion won, and insti

SK ie technology, a wholly owned battery materials subsidiary under SK Innovation, said Thursday that it was looking to raise nearly 2.25 trillion won ($2.02 billion) in fresh funds via an initial public offering on South Korea’s main bourse next month. While it plans to float about 21.4 million shares on the Kospi market in a price band of 78,000-105,000 won, some 8.55 million new shares are set to be issued. SK Innovation will sell 12.83 million SKIET shares for the IPO. The exact sh

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group announced Thursday it has set a goal to pour 60 trillion won ($53.7 billion) into its long-term environmental, social and governance finance plan. Under its ESG financing blueprint, the group will issue relevant bonds worth 25 trillion won, loans worth 25 trillion won, fund management worth 2 trillion won and other related investments worth 10 trillion won by 2030. In line with its ESG financing goals, Hana aims to achieve carbon neutrality in its int

South Korea’s impact investing scene is facing a call for a standardized tool to measure the social impact a startup generates via its business, as the demand to address social challenges is on the rise and more young entrepreneurs are looking to take on the challenges. Such a tool is key to leveraging social ventures’ impact and sustaining their solution for international problems in the long run, in order to assure investors that their investment goes to the right social ventures,

The daily turnover of South Korea's securities market soared more than 18 percent in the first quarter amid a stock market rally, data showed Thursday. According to the Korea Securities Depository, the daily amount of local stock and bond transactions settled by the agency averaged 30.7 trillion won ($27.5 billion) in the January-March period, up 18.5 percent from three months earlier. Compared with a year earlier, the daily turnover was up 6.9 percent. The average daily turnover of the count

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as investors sought to buy oversold stocks after the benchmark index took a breather the previous session. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 20.69 points, or 0.65 percent, to 3,192.35 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks came to a strong start after the Kospi slumped 1.52 percent the previous session under increased valuation pressure. Investor sentiment remained strong, backed by rosy speculations about soli

Six out of 10 new crypto investors in the first three months of the year were in their 20s and 30s, a report showed Wednesday, raising concerns that the surging market volatility could pose risks for young amateur investors. The number of newly opened accounts on the nation’s top four crypto trading platforms -- Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- came in at 2.5 million between January and March, according to the report released by Rep. Kwon Eun-hee of the opposition People Power Part

South Korean stocks snapped their seven-day winning streak to plunge 1.5 percent on Wednesday, as investors attempted to cash in recent gains. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 49.04 points, or 1.52 percent, to close at 3,171.66. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.7 billion shares worth some 16.7 trillion won ($14.9 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 597 to 277. Foreigners sold a net 1.43 trillion won, while ret

No coal power plants will be profitable in South Korea before the end of their expected lifetimes -- 30 years on average -- indicating coal power plants face a dismal financial future, a study showed Wednesday. An increase in renewable energy penetration in Korea and the newly introduced greenhouse gas emission cap system here are expected to trigger a significant decrease of coal power plant capacity factors, according to a report dubbed “End in sight: How South Korea can force coal off

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday after the benchmark stock index closed at an all-time high the previous session, increasing the valuation pressure. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 23.07 points, or 0.72 percent, to 3,197.63 points. The Kospi quickly fell through the 3,200-point mark with the opening bell as foreign and individual investors sold stocks to lock in gains. The stock index gained for the past six days until Tuesday amid expectations of a global econo

CEO calls for deregulation to allow more innovative businesses