S Korean Presidential Candidates Manifestos Issued as NFTs; Crypto Enters National Statistics

The manifestos of South Korea’s main presidential candidates have been released as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – as the nation’s March general election takes yet another crypto-flavored turn and Statistics Korea makes a crypto move.

Fn News reported that the NFTs comprise videos and were created by YTN, one of the nation’s biggest news networks. The network has claimed that its move is a national first. In addition to the two leading candidates – Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party and Yoo Suk-yeol of the main opposition People’s Power Party – YTN has also created NFTs featuring the video manifestos of Ahn Chul-soo, a tech guru-turned politician, who will stand for the People’s Party and the Justice Party’s Sim Sang-jung.

Barring an electoral miracle, either Lee or Yoo will be elected in early March, as South Korea is a de facto two-party state.

The tokens have been listed on the OpenSea platform, where they will be auctioned individually for a minimum bid of WETH 1 (wrapped ethereum [WETH]). In addition to an artistic rendering of each candidate, they feature video footage of the candidates making speeches on the campaign trail taken from YTN coverage of the election. No bids have yet been submitted on any of the tokens, with the auction set to close on February 4.

Meanwhile, back in the world of delivering the news, Yonhap, YTN’s former parent company, reported that Statistics Korea, an agency under the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, will ask 20,000 households based around the country to report how much crypto they own on March 31.

Statistics Korea conducts similar surveys on a yearly basis, but has never before asked households to report their crypto holdings.

The agency has not revealed exactly when it plans to publish its findings.

The survey will also ask families to report on their conventional financial holdings and other assets, such as stocks, commodities, and real estate. The survey will be conducted in conjunction with the central Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Financial Supervisory Service, a major financial regulator.

The BOK has also reported that the first phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) test has been successfully completed. EToday reported that the BOK stated that it had created, issued, and distributed a prototype coin in a simulated environment, adding that the pilot digital KRW “functions properly” in its test space.
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