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Homepage/News/Presto has Filed a Constitutional Complaint Against the South Korean Government For Banning ICOs
NEWS

Presto has Filed a Constitutional Complaint Against the South Korean Government For Banning ICOs

BY Joshua Trelawen·2 MIN READ·DECEMBER 9, 2018

About a year ago, the South Korean authorities banned initial coin offerings within the country. In response to this, a constitutional complaint has been filed in a South Korea court by Presto, a South Korean blockchain startup. The complaint alleged that by banning ICOs in the country, the government has acted unconstitutionally.

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The Ban on ICOs has Done More Harm Than Good

Since the ban on ICOs came into effect about a year ago, the South Korean government has done nothing to address the situation. This has greatly affected startups looking to get funded through an ICO within the country.

The constitutional complaint was reportedly filed by Presto, a South Korean blockchain startup. According to the announcement from Presto, the constitutional complaint filed by the startup alleged that the government’s ban on all forms of “initial coin offerings (ICOs) in September last year is unconstitutional.”
As a result of this, Presto wants the government to review its stance.

Presto is Also Affected

According to a statement from Presto’s CEO, Kang Kyung-won, the company has been affected by this unconstitutional ban on cryptocurrency. Kang made it known that the company has considered several options such as “setting up an overseas corporation to issue tokens, but it is still waiting on the government to provide a follow up on its ban on ICO. However, it is more than a year since the ban became effective and the government has done nothing about it.

He explained this in a statement which reads:

“We trusted that the government will foster [this] new industry through follow-up measures. However, it has been more than a year since the ban and the government has yet to introduce any forms of ICO guidelines or regulations.”

Kang added that:

“As a blockchain startup company, we face a lot of difficulties due to the ICO ban and the lack of legislation from the government and the Parliament for more than a year. I am requesting confirmation of the unconstitutionality of the lack of legislation.”

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  • Byline - Reported by Joshua Trelawen
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