[News UP] Bitcoin Breaks Record $9.9 Million...Will it be more than $100,000?

■ Host: anchor Yoon Jae-hee
■ Starring: Kwon Hyuk-joong, economic critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News UP] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Economic issues, let me point it out with an expert. With Kwon Hyuk-jung's Economic Review. Please come in. I think we should start by talking about bitcoin. and it hit the highest price.

[Recommending]
That's right. Bitcoin seems to be emerging as an issue for the entire virtual currency market. First of all, it was a bad night. When it exceeded $97,000, the foreign media actually reported something about the issue. That's what the Trump administration's transition team will create a department dedicated to virtual currency. As this issue was reported, it exceeded $97,000. But last night, it exceeded $99,000. The reason for this is that there is a person named Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This was a representative person who continued to regulate the virtual currency market while serving as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's why it was a long-cherished dream in the virtual currency industry to dismiss him. But yesterday, he suddenly said he would resign. When? Trump said he would resign on Jan. 20, when he takes office as president. It's a huge boon. In fact, this was solved because it was a long-cherished business in the virtual currency industry. As a result, Bitcoin broke through $99,000.

[Anchor]
Predictions are mixed. Some predict that it will pass $100,000 soon, but some say that it will slow down when it reaches a certain level, what do you think?

[Recommending]
I'm going over $100,000, so you can look at it like this. There's an optimistic side and a pessimistic side, I'm sure a lot of people have both. First of all, for those who are optimistic, Bitcoin's principle of scarcity, in short, is defined as 21 million mining. As a result, there is also a very optimistic aspect that it can rise further because of this scarcity. So in the market, $100,000 could definitely go up before taking office.

is close. In our money, it's about 140 million won. One hundred thousand dollars. So I think it'll probably go over soon. Then, before taking office, it can rise to $120,000. So, there are people who are pessimistic about this right now. It continues to highlight volatility, and early investors actually have 2 million to 3 million Bitcoin right now. Early investors were those who bought hundreds of thousands of won or less. We call it a whale.

But what kind of strategy they have now is that they will literally sell when it exceeds $100,000, and there will be a profit-taking sale. So it's actually organized like we're selling a program. So when it exceeded $100,000, the sale came out once. That's when the volatility increases. That's why some say it's difficult to admit even if it's because of this volatility. But if you look at the current situation, for now, it's definitely over $100,000. There is a very high possibility of continuous upward movement. If you look at the current trend, then. I can tell you that.

[Anchor]
President-elect Trump, who declared that he would become a pro-Bitcoin president, also said that he would establish a new position in the White House dedicated to virtual currency policy. Can virtual currency also be used as a national asset?

[Recommending]
I'm in debt right now. President-elect Trump. I owe money to the virtual currency industry, and what is that debt? Then I received a huge amount of political donations, not a monetary debt. This is over 100 million dollars. As I said earlier, it's over 140 billion won in our money. I received that political donation, but in fact, after Trump took office, it will change in a friendly way. I've been saying that virtual currency is fraudulent, but I receive political donations. Then, after receiving donations, it became friendly. What I talked about when I was a candidate was that I would make it a virtual asset capital.

Then I'll turn it into a strategic asset. Since I said that I will foster it, it is a part that is bound to cause issues in the virtual currency. And I also lobbied a lot in the virtual currency industry. So, the parliament is now actually newly formed, and now the cryptocurrency industry market is twice as many as the politicians who see it favorably than the politicians who see it pessimistically.

As a result, the administration and Congress are all changing in favor of virtual currency. As you can see, the fact that virtual currency is likely to continue to rise upward is what all markets are pointing to now. You mentioned earlier that it has become a strategic asset. In fact, bills are now coming out according to pledges, but the U.S. has 210,000. I didn't buy this.

I brought all the proceeds of the crime, but there are 210,000 of them, and if they say they go according to the bill, it's 1 million if they say they go according to the current bill. Then it's about continuing to live. In other words, Bitcoin has no choice but to rise further because it's a living thing, and this keeps coming out. So I would like to tell you that the environment of this market is changing rapidly.

[Anchor]
There is also a saying that the higher the bitcoin goes, the higher the real estate price. This means that virtual currency funds will eventually move to the real estate market, but is this credible?

[Recommending]
This is an interesting paper. A university professor published a paper on how virtual assets affect other asset markets, and it was interesting. What it's about is a survey from 2014 to 2023. In short, we saw the volatility of cryptocurrency and the volatility of our apartment market. But when I saw it, the price of the apartment went up when the cryptocurrency went up. But the price of the apartment here is not the price of the apartment across the country.

I heard that high-priced apartments in Gangnam went up. So this is not a causal relationship. It's just a correlation, a relationship in a word. But the reason is that people in their 20s and 30s actually invested a lot in virtual currency. It's from 2014 to 2023. As you know, I've run a few times. Especially recently, during the COVID-19 era in 2020 and 21, we jumped a lot. At that time, if people in their 20s and 30s made a lot of money. They bought an expensive apartment in Gangnam. So it's been investigated, but this doesn't mean there's a lot of this

There are one or two, but the problem is that it went up so much when we saw it on the news? Did you jump this much? No way, this is how you do it. But if you look at where the funds came from, people who made a lot of money by investing in coins in their 20s and 30s live at ridiculous prices. That's what drives the market. So it can be seen as a very interesting thesis, and I think these things are correlated to some extent.

But there are actual cases like this. in the coin market industry Therefore, it seems right to really affect real estate in the market.

[Anchor]
Now, domestic investors are also investing a lot in virtual currency, but controversy over virtual currency taxation continues in Korea. Actually, if it's as planned, we have to do it from next year.

[Recommending]
That's right. If you say you're going as planned, it should be taxed from January 1, 2025. This is intertwined like a gold investment tax, but there was literally an amendment to the income tax law in 2020. It was actually passed here, but I've been postponing it. So what is it? If you have more than 2.5 million won, you will be taxed separately, including 22% and local taxes. However, since the Democratic Party of Korea is criticized a lot, I will deduct up to 50 million won.

In short, the ruling party believes that it will be taxed only when it earns more than 50 million won, and not. Let's postpone it for another two years, and we're fighting like this. I don't know how it will come to a conclusion, but I can tell you that if we keep going as it is, the taxation part on virtual currency will actually go in.

[Anchor]
In the case of the United States and Japan, are you taxing them?

[Recommending]
In the case of the United States, virtual currency is actually regarded as an asset, so when we acquire it, we pay income tax and then transfer it, we pay capital gains tax called capital gains tax. The UK is paying capital gains tax as well. In the case of Japan, it is classified as miscellaneous income. So, it is classified as other income and taxed together at the comprehensive tax rate. So in foreign countries, virtual currency is taxed, but personally, I think it's right to tax it.

If you say this, people who have invested in virtual currency can criticize it, but it's rather good. Because taxing means recognizing it as an asset. That's why, of course, it's right for me to tax. Because you have income and you recognize it as an asset, and I think you should definitely tax income tax or capital gains tax, and I think these will help you create a stable market.

[Anchor]
Bitcoin prices are rising like this every day, but our stock market situation continues to be blue. How should I look at this?

[Recommending]
I feel sorry. I feel so heartbroken when I see the domestic market in our country. Because there were actually three bad news in Korea. The first one was the issue of financial investment. But it's over now. Then there was the uncertainty of the U.S. presidential election. This is over, too. If you see what the other one is, it's the transaction price. I've lost a lot of weight in the meantime. The transaction amount is missing. A lot of people have invested in the United States. But now that the U.S. presidential election is over, the money in the U.S. has to come back to Korea. But all of a sudden, bitcoin starts to jump. So many people don't invest in the Korean market.

He went to Bitcoin. The transaction amount is completely missing. What it means is that even if there is a slight decline, there is a part that falls out significantly. As a result, the Korean stock market continues to be depressed due to the disappearance of transaction prices, and this is the first reason, and the second reason is Korea's growth potential. Foreigners see this as a very uncertainty. As you know, the IMF adjusted Korea's economic growth rate. 2. I lowered it from 5% to 2.2% this year, but even if you look at this, foreigners see more profits even if they invest in Taiwan, China, or other countries, so why would I invest in a country where growth is slow?

So, they're not coming in now. Since they're not coming in, there's no choice but to lose supply and demand. As a result, no matter how good the Korean stock market continues to be now. You can see it if you look at Samsung Electronics. Considering these things, which only rose sharply even though there were huge positive factors such as the sale of treasury stocks, I think our domestic stock market will not be able to continue its good trend until the second half of next year except for dividend stocks.

[Anchor]
So there are no variables that can rebound for the time being?

[Recommending]
I think the government should step up. The stock market sees it as a loss of leadership. Of course, the financial authorities have come forward now. For example, I said that I would invest 200 billion won in value-up funds and an additional 300 billion won, but it's a little weak, actually. So I had a stock certificate fund, in the past. I hope that we will continue to create securities funds to revive the stock market. Because there are so few events. Samsung Electronics created an event, but it's only about Samsung Electronics, and it makes an event that can affect the domestic stock market in general.But actually, investors come in.

So it's not that investors are bad. Investors are too cold-hearted. If I can make money, I go in, and if I don't think I'm going to make money, I get out. Then you judge that the domestic stock market is a place where you can't make money. Then, you have to raise your expectations in a place where you can make money to come in. So I think the Korea Stock Exchange Fund or the government should come forward and set up an event.

[Anchor]
Is it because of that reason? The business community issued an emergency statement yesterday. The current situation is already difficult, but you appealed to us not to pursue amendments to the commercial law, which is feared to damage corporate competitiveness, right?

[Recommending]
There are two big issues with the revision of the commercial law. The first is the expansion of the director's duty of loyalty, and the company has been faithful to the director. But I got one more. It's the shareholder. What changes then? One company made a profit. Then, in the past, you will leave a lot of reserves as the company tells you to do. I was going to save it for future investment, but if this is going to be revised to the commercial law, shareholders should pay attention to it now. Shareholders will definitely demand dividends if they make a profit.

Then, from the perspective of the board of directors, of course, we have to pay attention to the shareholders, so we can go toward dividends. As a result, this is intertwined and another intensive voting system is mandatory. What is mandatory for the intensive voting system is, for example, I am a shareholder. I have ten weeks. But we're going to pick three board members. Then it's three times ten. I have 30 votes, and I can drive this to one director. This is the concentrated voting system.

But this is mandatory. If that happens, minority shareholders will increase their power. Of course, the current management is bound to be at a disadvantage. The reason is that when foreign capital actually joins forces with these individual shareholders, it cannot defend management rights. So, the business community is now saying that these two purposes, if the director's duty of loyalty is expanded, of course, lawsuits can be rampant, and if the concentrated voting system becomes mandatory, management rights can be shaken by foreign investment capital. So, what will happen to the revision of this commercial law? The opposition party is pushing it now, but I say that this is something you have to watch carefully to see whether it will proceed or block.

[Anchor]
In the face of growing economic uncertainty, the business community seems to be making efforts to overcome it. In the middle of this, a picture is becoming a hot topic. Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin took a picture with Trump's eldest son in the past.

[Recommending]
With Trump Jr. It's coming out right now. I took it in such a friendly way, but I met Junior and talked about this and that. So, as you know, Trump Jr., he is now considered to be the most influential person. But the way the two of you have connections is that there will be emotional exchanges, but first of all, there will be religious exchanges. That's why it's known as a devout Christian.

As you know, Trump Jr. recently visited Korea and came out to a church and even testified. So it's tied up with a devout Christianity. Looking at it, there is this relationship, so if we leave the market and we are close like this, we believe that there will be a bridgehead for improving relations between Korea, the business community, and the United States in the future. I judge that we can have a good and friendly relationship.

[Anchor]
Does it work to use these network assets in terms of economic diplomacy?

[Recommending]
I think there will be. Because you're from Wharton School. As a result, there was a part where Trump emphasized that very much. I made a promise when I was a candidate. I think it'll have some influence because of that, but what's more important than that is in my opinion. Can you present the references to specific investments? In short, it's a more fundamental problem. As the Trump administration knows, Trump is a businessman. It's clearly about profit. Then we should also approach thoroughly in terms of such practical benefits, such as friendship, exchanges, and personal connections, etc., are actually secondary issues. But more importantly, I will evaluate that the orthodox law is also very important.

[Anchor]
I see. I'll stop listening to it. I was with Kwon Hyuk-joong, an economic critic. Thank you.