Following an angry reaction in the country of the citizens aged between 20 and 39 years of age against its planned crypto crackdown, the South Korean Government is facing the risk of a humiliating climb-down.

Eun’s warning against crypto

The head of the Commission, Eun Sung-soo, emphasized what was said in recent weeks by the government and the Central Bank of Korea that crypto had no intrinsic value and was uncontrolled.

He also warned that, after the new rules come into effect, the overwhelming majority of crypto exchanges in the country could come to an end in September. The rules mandate exchanges to respect anti-money washing protocols, receive certification for data protection, and enter into banking agreements with domestic partners. To date, these and other conditions have only been reached by four exchanges.

But Eun’s warning seems to have affected a single nerve of 20 or 30, and the responses seem to have been the least timely. In the aftermath of his comment, irritated by online pundits and crypto-collectivities, crypto prices fell, and the crisis became exacerbated.

Signatures demanding Eun’s resignation

The presidential platform is full of demands for the resignation of Eun. More than 130,000 signatories are among the most common at writing (April 26, 11 UTC), while another 80,000 signatures demand his resignation.

Another one, with nearly 20,000 signatories, urged Seoul to recognize the industries as a legal and above-board business by taxing crypto, which it has been doing since 2022.

The presidential elections in March next year are more urgent. The governing Democratic Party took a huge hit when it lost Seoul’s key elections in a competing, conservative People’s Power Party in its reelection expectations last month.

According to Yonhap, officials of the Democratic Party said they are now trying to develop a solution by communicating with the young people investing in crypto and added that they should leave regulations to the market.

The minority party has been cited to say that it wishes to deal with this situation and that its policies betray the young people.

People’s power legislators said that young people have the right to feel resented on the matter. They claim that before making their crypto-political choices, Seoul would have consulted experts.