[Interview] Park Chang-beom, Chairman of KODEAC: "Overseas Coin Investment Should Be Allowed Through Domestic Exchanges"

Interview with Park Chang-beom, Chairman of the Korea Digital Asset Evaluation Certification
"Investment in overseas digital assets should be done through domestic exchanges"
Proposal for the institutionalization of 'cross-border order brokerage and custody'

Domestic investors are turning their eyes to overseas exchanges in search of various digital assets (virtual assets) and abundant liquidity, but the institutional safety net to protect them in case of disputes is still lacking.

In this context, a suggestion has been made to establish an official channel that allows safe access to the global market through domestic exchanges rather than simply restricting the use of overseas exchanges.

Park Chang-beom, Chairman of the Korea Digital Asset Evaluation Certification (KODEAC), proposed in an interview with Block Media on the 11th that domestic registered exchanges should mediate investor orders in connection with overseas exchanges that meet certain requirements.

Chairman Park stated, "It is not about blocking overseas investment, but about applying Korea's safety net to overseas investments," adding, "We should ensure the right to choose while allowing participation in a way that can be protected."

The main reasons domestic investors are looking to overseas exchanges include a diverse range of assets and product lineups, as well as abundant global liquidity. In fact, some investors have directly signed up with overseas exchanges to trade in futures, derivatives, or stablecoin markets, and to access initial liquidity for global projects.

The problem arises when disputes occur during the trading process. If there is no domestic corporation or responsible party at the overseas exchange, it becomes difficult for domestic investors to verify related grounds or demand compensation for damages, even if actions such as account freezes or withdrawal restrictions are imposed.

Chairman Park noted, "While joining overseas exchanges and transferring assets can be done in a matter of minutes, the moment an account is frozen or withdrawals are blocked, the entity that can responsibly respond in Korea disappears," and emphasized, "Rather than asking whether we should block overseas exchanges, we should consider why we have not yet created a protection-oriented access system for overseas markets for our citizens."

KODEAC plans to collect cases of damage that occurred during the use of overseas exchanges starting in the second half of this year to better understand these issues. They intend to analyze various types of disputes, such as long-term account suspensions and withdrawal restrictions due to re-examination of the customer verification system (KYC), difficulties in securing transaction history and acquisition cost data, and disputes related to forced liquidation or system failures, to utilize for institutional improvements.

"Access to Global Markets Through Domestic Exchanges Like Overseas Stocks"

The alternative proposed by Chairman Park is similar to investing in overseas stocks. Instead of directly signing up with overseas exchanges, investors would place orders through domestic registered exchanges, where domestic businesses would verify the eligibility of multiple overseas exchanges in advance and check prices and liquidity before relaying the orders.

After the transaction, domestic businesses or licensed custodians would separately hold the assets, while domestic exchanges would handle customer verification, anti-money laundering (AML), abnormal transaction monitoring, transaction record management, and complaint reception. The overseas exchanges to be linked would be limited to businesses that meet requirements such as licensing, separation of customer assets, accounting audits, incident response, and data provision.

Chairman Park clarified, "This is not a system that gives more listing rights for overseas assets to domestic exchanges," stating that domestic exchanges should serve as infrastructure for connecting and recording orders, while independent systems should handle eligibility assessments for trading support and market monitoring.

To achieve this, he emphasized the need to formally define 'cross-border order brokerage and custody' as an official task in the legislative process of the Digital Asset Basic Act. He also explained that approval criteria for eligible overseas exchanges, responsibilities of domestic brokerage firms, separation of customer assets, best execution, disclosure of fees and order routes, and obligations for incident compensation and dispute resolution should be established together.

Regarding concerns that the market dominance of large domestic exchanges could expand, he proposed an open model involving multiple businesses. He argued that exclusive contracts with overseas exchanges should be limited and that order routes, execution prices, and fees should be compared and disclosed to prevent concentration of transactions on specific businesses.

Chairman Park stated, "Exchanges should be platforms but should not act as referees," insisting that independent external organizations or joint regulatory systems should handle eligibility assessments for trading support and market monitoring, while imposing obligations for best execution and conflict of interest management on domestic exchanges.

Promoting 'SATI' Combining AI, K-Content, and RWA

KODEAC is also preparing the 'SATI' project, which combines artificial intelligence (AI), K-content, and real-world assets (RWA). The core idea is to manage data provided by users in the form of 'data credentialing' linked to their wallets, ensuring that the economic value generated from the data returns to the users.

In the K-content sector, they are applying AI agents to services that connect actors, directors, producers, and fans, and are also considering utilizing content intellectual property (IP) or revenue rights with clear contracts and rights relationships in RWA form.

Chairman Park remarked, "The competitiveness of digital assets comes not from price but from making rights, settlements, and responsibilities transparent," adding, "The goal is to create an official channel for domestic investors to safely access global markets and establish trust standards in the market so that the industry can grow based on those standards."