South Korea's "New Start Fund" will include cryptocurrency assets in debt relief reviews

According to the Korea Herald, the South Korean government is improving the debt adjustment program "New Start Fund" for small business owners and individual entrepreneurs, incorporating virtual assets into the review process.

Under the revised system, the debt relief rate will be adjusted based on the applicant's repayment ability, and the assessment of repayment ability now considers their holdings of cryptocurrency assets. Previously, the fund mainly verified the debtor's income and assets through financial statements submitted by the applicant and data available from the public administrative information network, which made it difficult to identify such investment assets.

To address this issue, since January of this year, the fund has utilized virtual asset balance certificates in property assessments after negotiations with the five major Korean won market cryptocurrency exchanges. Applicants recognized as members of the aforementioned exchanges are now required to submit these certificates directly.