2020 is likely to be remembered as the first infectious disease called Corona 19. The number of confirmed patients in the world exceeded 78 million, and more than 50,000 were confirmed in Korea, paralyzing the world’s industries, staggering the economy, and vanished people’s minds. However, recently, as news of the successful research and development of the Corona 19 vaccine has been heard, a spark of hope has also blossomed.
In the domestic blockchain industry, as the amendment to the Specific Financial Information Act (Special Act) has passed the National Assembly, it is expected to be implemented from next year, and cryptocurrency taxation will also be implemented. In addition, rising bitcoin prices, growth of Defi, and cryptocurrency investments by large corporations and financial institutions such as PayPal are continuing, raising expectations for the growth of the cryptocurrency industry in earnest next year.
CoinDesk Korea conducted a survey to organize this year by gathering readers’ opinions. A total of 677 people participated in the past 10 days from the 11th to the 21st, of which 646 respondents excluding 31 duplicate participants were summarized. Multiple responses were possible for up to 3 questions in all survey questions.
#1 Seok-Woo Lee, Representative of Doonamu (204)
Korea’s Person of the Year, CEO Lee Seok-woo of Dunamu, who operates the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, received the most support. This result seems the greatest in that Upbit is the largest exchange in Korea.
In January of this year, the management of Doonamu was acquitted at the first trial for charges such as fraud and falsification of pre-owned records, as well as fraud and falsification of pre-owned records, as well as fraud and falsification of pre-owned records, as well as fraudulent transactions in the’bicycle trading’ method of’bicycle transaction’ worth 4.267 trillion won. .
After this ruling, Upbit continued its stable growth without any issues, and the bitcoin price rose significantly, exceeding 1 trillion won per day in November. Representative Lee Seok-woo is drawing attention on how to prepare for the filing of business report and taxation by the financial authorities next year.
Previously, Lee was selected as’Person of the Year’ in Korea in 2019. For reference, the “person of the year” in 2018 is Park Sang-sang, former Minister of Justice.
2nd place Jae-sun Han, CEO of Ground X (195 people)
Ground X CEO Jae-sun Han, who ranked third in the 2019 survey, was selected as second place this year. The fact that Ground X’s own cryptocurrency wallet’Clip’ (KLIP) was installed on KakaoTalk this year seems to have had a positive effect.
The industry is hoping that the KakaoTalk installation of Clip will solve the usability and accessibility that have been pointed out as disadvantages of blockchain services. This year, Ground X was also at the center of the controversy about listing on Clayton’s cryptocurrency KLAY.
#3 Hyun-Sung Shin and Do-Hyung Kwon, Terra Co-Founder (175)
It was no exaggeration to say that’Terra’ is the most noticeable block chain in Korea this year. Terra was evaluated for success in the practical use of the blockchain by linking with the simple payment service’Difference’. However, there was controversy and criticism within the industry as it was belatedly revealed that the Terra SDR (SDT) coin, which serves as the key currency within the Terra ecosystem, was pre-issued by KRW 1.6 trillion.
In addition, Hong Nam-gi, Minister of Strategy and Finance (166 people), who prepared a domestic cryptocurrency taxation plan, and Jo Joo-bin Jo (156 people), a doctoral room operator who received cryptocurrency and sold sexual exploitation videos, and the ‘Hashed Venture Investment Association’ to implement a ‘protocol economy’. Hashed CEO Seo-joon Kim (141 people) who created’No. 1’was on the list.
#1 Joe Biden, US President-elect (326)
Joe Biden, the US president-elect who can dominate the world economy, was selected as the person of the year abroad with overwhelming support. This means that the US is also having a profound impact on the cryptocurrency industry.
Recently, Democrats in the United States have insisted on reverting the Donald Trump administration’s pro-crypto policy to Joe Biden. As it is expected that the U.S. government’s cryptocurrency regulations will have a major impact on the systems of other countries such as Korea, we should pay attention to Biden’s actions.
#2 Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum (172 people)
Ethereum, which is being developed with Vitalik Buterin’s dream of becoming a’world computer’, has taken its first step this year towards the next step, Ethereum 2.0.
When the transition to Ethereum 2.0 is complete, the consensus algorithm changes from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS). On December 1st, the Serenity 0 phase for Ethereum 2.0 began. Let’s keep an eye on the changes in Ethereum, which has become the world’s largest blockchain platform.
3rd US President Donald Trump (168)
U.S. President Donald Trump was ranked in third place after elect Joe Biden. President Donald Trump promoted a large-scale economic stimulus plan in the era of Corona 19, and has demanded low interest rates and quantitative easing from the Fed. The US Federal Reserve’s money release led to higher asset prices, and liquidity flowed into Bitcoin.
In terms of cryptocurrency regulation, it is noteworthy that President Trump appointed Coinbase former Monetary Supervisory Commissioner Brian Brooks. Commissioner Brooks has announced that US banks can conduct cryptocurrency trust business this year, accelerating financial institutions’ entry into the cryptocurrency business.
In addition, Chinese President Xi Jinping (148), who is preparing digital yuan, China’s CBDC, and Dan Schulman (135), who introduced cryptocurrency trading service to PayPal, were selected as “person of the year”.
#1 Corona 19 pandemic (381 people)
Corona 19 has had a great impact on industries, economies, and cultures not only in Korea but also around the world, and the end is not yet to be seen. Because of Corona 19, working from home has become common, and people have become accustomed to video conferencing. Also, the mask is now a part of the body.
Unfortunately, there have been more than 1,000 confirmed cases per day in Korea, and’social distance’ to prevent the spread of Corona 19 is continuing. Fortunately, Corona 19 vaccines are appearing one after another, and from the first half of next year, we hope that Corona 19 will disappear and you can live freely.
2nd place Bitcoin, rising 4 million → 20 million won (265 people)
Earlier this year, as Corona 19 spread around the world, the economy crashed, and the bitcoin price also reached an annual low of 4 million won. However, as the central banks of each country, centered on the United States, began quantitative easing, legal currency liquidity was supplied, leading to a surge in stocks, gold, and bitcoin prices.
In addition, institutional investors such as Grayscale and MicroStrategy started investing in bitcoin, and as the world’s largest electronic payment company PayPal launched a cryptocurrency trading service, the bitcoin price successively broke through the highest price.
3rd place cryptocurrency taxation (154 people)
The taxation of cryptocurrency, which was scheduled to take effect from September 2021, will be postponed by three months, and will take effect from January 2022. The tax method is other income from capital gains, and is taxed separately at a rate of 20% on a yearly basis. However, if the amount of income earned for one year is 2.5 million won or less, it is excluded from taxation.
In addition, the rapid growth of the Defi market, which heated up the cryptocurrency industry this year (152 people), and the case of’Park Sabang’ (147 people), which sold sexual exploitation videos with cryptocurrency, were ranked.
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