The regulator says that domestic brokerage of a U.S.-listed bitcoin spot ETF by Korean securities firms may potentially conflict with the country’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act and the Capital Markets Act without elaborating.
Recently, authorities in South Korea said they were planning on creating regulations that would make officials’ crypto holdings public.
In the U.S., Vanguard has decided not to offer spot bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), on its platform, citing what it calls a misalignment with the company’s investment portfolio strategy.