April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The government said on Jan. 22 it will collect up to 24.2 percent of corporate and local income taxes from Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges this year.

Amid concerns over a bubble, the government last month banned the opening of new virtual accounts for cryptocurrency investors and required virtual currency traders to change their virtual accounts to real-name ones.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have rapidly gained popularity among Korean investors recently as a means of making quick money.

Under current laws, all corporations with income of over 20 billion won (US$18.70 million) are required to pay 22 percent and 2.2 percent of corporate and local income taxes on their income.

Virtual currency exchanges should pay the corporate tax on income earned last year by the end of March and the local income tax by the end of April, an official from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said.

Bithumb, one of Korea‘s major cryptocurrency exchanges, is expected to pay about 60 billion won in corporate and local income taxes as its estimated earnings reached 317.6 billion won last year, according to Yujin Investment & Securities.

Bithumb reported 49.23 billion won in earnings on 49.27 billion won of sales for the first seven months last year.

Upbit, another Korean cryptocurrency exchange, ranked first in daily turnover with US$4 billion as of 5:30 p.m. Jan. 21, according to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinMarketCap.

Bithumb came in second with US$3.93 billion, Coinone 11th at US$455 million and Korbit 17th at US$175 million.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)