'Skeptical of virtual assets' Lee Eok-won invests in 10 shares of the largest Bitcoin-holding company

MicroStrategy share ownership revealed

Lee Eok-won, the nominee for Financial Services Commission chair who had expressed a skeptical position on the value of virtual assets, was reported to have owned shares of MicroStrategy, the world's largest Bitcoin-holding company.

According to the written answers to the confirmation hearing that he submitted to the National Assembly's Committee on Political Affairs on the 1st, he was reported to have held 10 shares of MicroStrategy as of the 14th of last month. MicroStrategy is a company that holds more than 630,000 bitcoins.

MicroStrategy was originally a software company, but beginning in 2020 it started buying Bitcoin and made virtual asset purchases a core business model.

The candidate's investment in MicroStrategy took place before he was nominated, so there is no legal issue, but criticism has emerged that it conflicts with the views on virtual assets he stated in his written answers and constitutes a double standard.

Earlier, in the written answers to the confirmation hearing submitted to the National Assembly on the 31st of last month, the candidate reaffirmed the government's existing position that virtual assets have no intrinsic value, saying, "Because virtual assets are highly volatile in price, it is difficult for them to perform the essential functions of money, such as serving as a store of value or a medium of exchange."

The industry has raised criticism that the words and actions of the top official leading related policies do not match, but some argue that the investment size is not large and that it can be interpreted as a move to directly experience market conditions.

Jang Ji-min, Hankyung.com guest reporter newsinfo@hankyung.com