South Korean regulator: to seek solution to deposit rate competition between crypto exchanges

On October 24, Lee Bok-hyun, director general of the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea (FSS), said on the issue of deposit rate competition among virtual asset exchanges following the implementation of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, “We are learning about the current state of the industry and are particularly interested in how to resolve issues related to Bithumb and others, which are under investigation, in a market-autonomous manner to open discussions.” 
The competition over deposit rates began on July 19, when Upbit announced a 1.3 percent rate. Bithumb then introduced a rate of 2.0%, which prompted Upbit to increase its rate to 2.1%. bithumb further increased its rate to 2.2%. Bithumb further increased its rate to 2.2%. With Korbit entering the fray with a rate of 2.5%, Bithumb again pushed its rate to 4.0%. However, after the FSS intervened, Bithumb withdrew the 4.0% rate. Rep. King said, “Currently the financial authorities are a bit vague on the criteria for calculating usage rates, they just tell people to calculate it reasonably, there are no criteria for calculating utilization rates, payment cycles, etc., there are not even minimum guidelines.” (Newsis)