South Korea Set to Meet Crypto Exchanges as Pressure Builds to Delay Crypto Tax

South Korean finance officials are reportedly due to meet major crypto exchanges on Tuesday as calls to postpone the planned cryptocurrency tax grow louder. The tax is scheduled to take effect in January. According to Yonhap, the consultation will bring in representatives from Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, DigitalX and Gopax, along with executives from the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance, known as DAXA. Government attendees include Kwon Dae-young, first vice minister of finance and economy, and Yoo Young-jun, director general for digital financial policy at the Financial Services Commission.

Exchange Readiness and Industry Pushback

Regulators have already delayed the tax three times, and the latest postponement moved the start date to 2027 amid political disagreement and industry concerns over exchange readiness and the threshold level. An exchange official told Yonhap on Sunday that rules for different transaction types are still not final and that time is running short to prepare infrastructure. The official said there is a shared view in the industry in favor of postponing the start of taxation.

Park Min-gyu Bill to Postpone Crypto Taxation

On Friday, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Min gyu introduced a bill that would push the tax back until January 1 of the second year after South Korea begins sharing data under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, or CARF. Since the first data exchange is expected in 2027, taxation under this proposal would not begin until 2029.