Profitability by 2027, capital accumulation over dividends
Sharp warning against indiscriminate altcoin listings
'STOs are a must': gold coins and other RWA expansion
Park questions practical utility of won-backed stablecoin
Mirae Asset Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo has laid out plans to transform Digital X from a simple virtual asset exchange into a global investment platform encompassing stablecoins, real-world assets (RWA) and security token offerings (STO). He also leveled sharp criticism at the domestic practice of listing altcoins, calling it "fraud" and a "criminal act" to supply products while knowing customers may suffer losses, and doubled down on the need to protect investors.
Speaking at an internal lecture for Digital X employees at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday evening, Park said the acquisition of Korbit was never about simply running a "Korea Bitcoin" exchange. "It was to move in four directions — crypto, stablecoins, RWA and STO," he said.
Park set a target of returning Digital X to profitability by 2027. "Even if we turn a profit next year, we should not rush to pay dividends," he said. "To make the company better, we need to accumulate capital and invest boldly." He added that once Digital X becomes profitable, he would consider a third-party allotment capital increase. "We can attract strategic investors, and depending on conditions, we could boldly explore giving customers who trade on Digital X the opportunity to participate in the capital raise," he said.
Park reserved his sharpest words for the altcoin listing practices of virtual asset exchanges. "Altcoins were something crypto exchanges did without hesitation," he said. "I found that there are nearly 300 types of altcoins listed only on Korean exchanges." He said he viewed such conduct as fraud. "At the very least, that kind of thing should not be done," he said. "The people who suffered losses were all customers that you deal with," he added, stressing the need for consumer protection.
He went further, calling it a "criminal act" to supply products while knowing customers may lose money, simply to earn fees or performance bonuses. "If you want to do that kind of thing, you should leave your job," he said. Park drew a parallel with Mirae Asset's IPO principles, saying the firm applies internal checks when it judges that public offering shares are being recommended to customers at excessively high prices. "You must not do that kind of thing for fees or performance when you know the customer may suffer a loss," he said.
Park also directed Digital X to broaden its organization and business — currently concentrated on crypto — toward stablecoins, RWA and STOs. He proposed new business ideas including a "gold coin" backed by physical assets such as gold and silver, and an "electricity coin" linked to power-generating assets. "Bitcoin is called digital gold, but it is not actual gold," he said. "If central banks are buying gold on a large scale, we can think about a gold coin backed by real gold."
He also stressed the need to enter the STO market. "STOs are something we absolutely must do," he said. "For example, we could think about tokenizing the assets of a company like SK hynix by dividing them into small units." On cross-border decentralized finance (DeFi), however, Park drew a line, saying arguments being made in Korea were "conceptually wrong." "It is important to uphold monetary policy and financial policy," he said.
Park expressed skepticism about the practical utility of a won-backed domestic stablecoin for payments. "The essence of payments is the payment itself," he said. "If you can send money anywhere with just one bank account or one brokerage account, do you really need to insert a stablecoin as the payment medium?" He added: "Will a won stablecoin be hugely successful when it arrives? I have a question mark on that."
He also said the situations in Korea and the United States must be distinguished when it comes to stablecoins. "Dollar stablecoins are strongly driven by the US desire to maintain the dollar as the reserve currency and to generate demand for US government bonds," he said. "They are not doing stablecoins to do you a favor." As US fiscal burdens grow, he said, stablecoins could serve as a vehicle for absorbing short-term government bonds.
Park also cautioned against using borrowed money to invest in virtual assets. "Even if you invest in Bitcoin, you should invest only a portion of your assets," he said. "People who bought Bitcoin when it was cheap may have made money, but not many of those who jumped in after prices rose sharply have profited. You must not take out loans to invest."
forest@heraldcorp.com
kyoung@heraldcorp.com
