South Korean ruling party lawmaker embroiled in conflict of interest scandal, crypto trading platform regulation battle heats up

【Blockchain Rhythm】The Korean crypto exchange community has been buzzing recently. An incident exposed on December 29th has made the relationship between the National Assembly and trading platforms quite awkward.

Kim Byung-ki, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party, has been accused of serious conflicts of interest — he has been pushing criticism against Korea’s largest trading platform in the National Assembly while his son interned at a competing platform. This operation certainly raises suspicions.

What exactly happened? Kim Byung-ki’s former assistant revealed that Kim had ordered his team to “attack” the operator of a certain trading platform, Dunamu, in the National Assembly, focusing on alleged market monopoly issues. These directives reportedly occurred around February this year, when Kim was still a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee. It’s important to note that this committee is not just a formality — it directly oversees domestic financial institutions and crypto exchanges, wielding considerable power.

More explosive details came from investigative media outlet NewsTapa. Shortly after Kim’s private meeting with Bithumb in November this year, his son was “quickly arranged” to become an intern in Bithumb’s data analysis team. Coincidence? In the following weeks, Kim frequently criticized a certain “monopolistic trading platform” during committee meetings. Although he didn’t name it directly, industry insiders widely believe he was referring to Upbit.

Kim also specifically mentioned that this platform was found to have approximately 700,000 violations in anti-money laundering and KYC checks. Interestingly, he did not make similar strong comments about other exchanges that also had issues — including Bithumb itself. This has led to further suspicion of selective enforcement.

What is the party involved saying? Bithumb denies any misconduct, insisting that their hiring process was “completely open and transparent.” Kim Byung-ki also publicly denied the allegations, claiming his comments were solely based on opposition to monopolies, and that his son’s employment had “nothing to do” with his legislative activities.

This incident highlights the complex situation crypto exchanges face in regulation. On one hand, exchanges indeed need to undergo scrutiny from regulatory authorities; on the other hand, regulators’ actions must also stand up to scrutiny. Market monopoly, KYC compliance, anti-money laundering — these are core issues the crypto industry must address, but the methods and processes of solving them are equally important.