South Korea does not want to allow people to invest in digital money, even though some other countries do. They think it is too risky and want to protect the people who save their money with them. South Korea has rules that only let people invest in certain things, and they don't include digital money yet. Even if other places, like the United States, say it's okay to invest in digital money, South Korea still says no. They think their way is better because it keeps their country's money safe. Read from source...

- South Korea's stance remains unchanged even as countries like the U.S., Hong Kong, Germany and Canada adopt spot Bitcoin ETFs. This implies that South Korea is lagging behind in innovation and progress, and may miss out on potential benefits of crypto adoption by institutional investors.
- South Korean financial authorities resist law amendments to allow virtual assets as underlying assets for ETFs and similar products. This suggests that they are stubborn and resistant to change, and may be protecting vested interests or outdated paradigms rather than the public interest or consumer protection.
- South Korea does not recognize virtual assets as financial assets and continues to prohibit financial institutions from investing in them. This indicates that they have a narrow and limited view of finance and asset classifications, and may be ignoring the potential value and diversification benefits of crypto assets for institutional and retail investors alike.
- South Korea's Financial Services Commission reiterated the government's consistent principle of barring financial institutions from virtual asset investments to stabilize the financial market and safeguard investors. This is a weak argument, as it does not provide any evidence or data to support this claim, and it may be based on anecdotal or outdated information rather than empirical research or rigorous analysis.
- Despite international trends, such as the U.S. SEC greenlighting the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs, South Korea views the development as non-influential to its existing policies. This shows that they are arrogant and dismissive of other countries' experiences and achievements, and may be overconfident or complacent in their own approach.
- Under the current legal framework, launching a virtual asset ETF in South Korea is not feasible. The Capital Markets Act specifies financial investment products, currencies and general products as the only permissible underlying assets for ETFs. This demonstrates that they have a rigid and inflexible regulatory system, and may be limiting market competition and innovation by restricting the scope of financial instruments available to investors.
- Financial authorities resist amending the law to include virtual assets as underlying assets for financial instruments like ETFs. They believe the U.S. financial sector's resilience during the crypto market downturn was due to restrictions on financial institutions from investing in virtual assets, similar to Korea's approach. This suggests that they are ignorant or misinformed about the actual causes and factors behind the U.S. financial sector's performance, and may be drawing faulty or illogical conclusions based on selective or biased evidence.
- SEC Chairman Gary Gensler clarified the SEC's

Bearish

Summary:
South Korea continues to resist legalizing cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other financial products despite growing adoption in other countries. The country's financial authorities view the development as non-influential to its existing policies and maintain their firm stance against recognizing virtual assets as financial assets, prohibiting financial institutions from investing in them.