A significant development in South Korea's cryptocurrency industry mandates major operators like Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone to pay a supervisory fee under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. The fee, based on operating income, is estimated at around 300 million won for leading exchanges, posing financial challenges. The Financial Services Commission announced revisions requiring virtual asset operators to contribute to supervisory fees for inspections by the Financial Supervisory Service. Upbit, Coinone, and Gopax face contributions based on their previous fiscal year's revenue, with Korbit exempt due to lower revenue. Despite operating losses, exchanges must pay the fee, straining their finances. The decision to expedite these fees was influenced by imminent FSS inspections post-Act enforcement. To comply with user protection laws, 20 local exchanges are reviewing 1,333 digital currencies over six months. Read more AI-generated news on: https://app.chaingpt.org/news