가상자산기본법의 입법방향에 관한 연구 -MiCA의 시사점을 중심으로-

Recently, E.U. has finally passed the MiCA regulations for crypto- assets, and the U.S. is also preparing to enact comprehensive legislation for crypto-assets while applying existing securities and commodity regulations to them. In Korea, National Assembly also promulgated ‘the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users’which mainly focuses on unfair trade regulation and protection of user assets. Also, Korean government and Nation Assembly are preparing the second-stage regulation act for virtual assets. Accordingly, this paper examines the direction that Korea should take in its legislation on crypto-assets. Firstly, it points out that the U.S. regulatory approach to crypto-assets is not suitable for Korea’s legal system and explains why the EU’s MiCA approach to regulation is more appropriate. To do so, the key points of MiCA are outlined, and further analysis is conducted on the legislative principle of “same business, same risk, same regulation” to propose three detailed principles. Based on this analysis, the paper presents a specific legislative evaluation model for crypto-asset regulation: 1) Assessing the necessity of being subject to financial regulation, 2) Examining whether the crypto-asset can be covered by existing financial laws and regulations, and 3) Only when it cannot be covered, selecting and applying the three sub-principles of regulation based on the nature and characteristics of the each crypto-asset to derive a specific regulatory approach. Lastly, the paper proposes a regulatory approach for Bitcoin as an example of utilizing the legislative model presented.