South Korean Company Launches Platform Meant to Protect ICO Investors

Various Asian countries have taken a harsh stance against initial coin offerings. Given the previously unregulated nature of that industry and the large sums being raised by ICO teams, that is not a big surprise. It seems one South Korean company is trying to have a positive impact on the sector. The Korea M&A Center is launching a new platform meant to protect ICO investors.

A Positive ICO Development in South Korea

No one will deny the role of importance which South Korea plays in the world of cryptocurrency. After China banned CNY trading, South Korea was fairly quick to take its place in the fiat currency trading department. That was a rather interesting development, and one that has also caused some regulatory challenges in the region. Particularly when it comes to initial coin offerings, things have gone from bad to worse fairly quickly.

Several months ago, it became clear that South Korea’s FSA did not take kindly to ICOs and ICO-related products. As such, many people expected initial coin offerings to be completely banned in the country, even though that is not exactly what has happened. There is still a lot of unease when it comes to embracing this business model in South Korea, but that situation may come to change fairly soon.

That’s because the Korea M&A Center has made it clear they are working on a new patented platform to protect ICO investors. That is a rather surprising turn of events, although it also has a lot of merit. More specifically, their ESC Lock service offers an escrow system similar to those found in traditional financial markets, but tailored to initial coin offerings. The end result is that investments will be locked, as will be the ICO tokens issued by the companies in question.

That’s a very different take on initial coin offerings, and one that could bring a lot of legitimacy to this particular industry. With various ICO scams having been recorded in recent history, it is evident something will need to change where ICOs are concerned. Moreover, there is an alarmingly high rate of projects failing to reach commercialization, which doesn’t bode well for investors either. ESC Lock should be able to address all of those issues, as investors need to be protected.

ESC Lock will only deposit investments in ICO companies if certain conditions are met. Any company failing to live up to these expectations will not receive any funding, and investors will simply get their money back. This will put a lot of pressure on ICO projects to actually deliver the goods, and will hopefully weed out the bad seeds altogether. It is a positive development for the industry, albeit one that will remain limited to South Korea, for the time being. Of course, one could argue that ICO investors simply need to conduct their own research first and foremost. That would certainly solve a lot of problems, though companies may still not be able to enter the commercialization stage.