South Korea Presidential Election | Lee Jaemyung announces acceptance of cryptocurrency donations, issuing NFTs as political donation receipts

The presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, recently announced that he will start accepting cryptocurrency political donations in mid-January 2022 and will issue NFTs as donation receipts.

NFT as Political Donation Receipts

According to a report by South Korean media The Korea Times, South Korea is set to hold its presidential election in March. Lee Jae-myung, the successor and candidate for the current President Moon Jae-in, mentioned that his campaign committee will start sending out NFTs to supporters who donate to the campaign starting from January. These NFTs will include photos of Lee Jae-myung as well as his political platform.

Lee Jae-myung stated that he has been in discussion with the National Election Commission (NEC) for the past eight months regarding this matter. The NEC confirmed that raising funds through NFTs does not violate the Political Fund Act or the Public Official Election Act. Lee Jae-myung personally will manage the donations in accordance with the Public Official Election Act and the Political Fund Management Guidelines.

P2E Issue Draws Attention

In a previous interview, Lee Jae-myung expressed his views on Play-to-Earn (P2E) games and NFTs, stating that there is no need to view P2E games negatively and that South Korea should lead trends rather than be passively influenced by them. Regarding NFTs, he mentioned:

NFTs are a new open market that has become a very important part of life and will continue to grow in importance. The existence of NFT games is an undeniable fact, and quickly adapting and utilizing NFTs is crucial.

However, the South Korean government has shown determination to ban P2E games. The South Korean Game Management Committee (GMC) reportedly requested on December 27 last year that Google Play and the App Store stop registering related game apps and planned to delist existing games.

An official from the GMC stated that it is reasonable not to give age ratings to P2E games because cash rewards in games can be seen as prizes. According to current laws, winnings from games in South Korea cannot exceed 10,000 Korean won, which is about 8.42 U.S. dollars at a time.

Interestingly, South Korea is expected to ban non-KYC wallets, and South Korean exchange Coinone has announced that from January 24, external transfers must be made to KYC-verified addresses in order to withdraw funds.

It remains to be confirmed what type of wallet Lee Jae-myung's supporters will need to receive the NFTs.