South Koreans Petition to Delay a Tax on Bitcoin Gains

SEOUL — A petition asking South Korea’s lawmakers to delay a tax on bitcoin and other digital-asset gains has cleared 50,000 signatures, the threshold that forces the National Assembly to formally review it. It gathered roughly 51,000 names in about three weeks and now heads to the Strategy and Finance Committee.

The ask is specific: push the start date from January 1, 2027, to 2029.

The tax at issue

South Korea plans a 22% tax on annual digital-asset gains above 2.5 million won — a little under $1,800. That threshold is the sore point. Critics say it is far lower than the exemption on stock-trading profits, singling out a market whose users skew young and retail.

The government has been here before. The tax was first written for 2022, then postponed to 2023, then to 2025, before landing on 2027. Each delay has followed the same pattern: political pressure from a large, engaged base of retail investors meeting a treasury that wants the revenue.

Every delay has bought two more years. The petitioners are asking for the fourth.

A government holding firm

This time officials say the timeline stands. Lee Hyoung-Il, the nominee for Minister of Economy and Finance, said over the weekend that the tax remains on track for 2027. A petition review compels a hearing, not a change in law.

What gives the campaign weight is arithmetic of a different kind. South Korea has one of the world’s most active retail crypto bases, and bitcoin is the asset most of them hold. A tax that lands on that many voters is never only a fiscal question.

Why it travels

The fight rhymes with others the Beacon has tracked — Germany moving to tax bitcoin like a stock, Italy screening every transfer. As bitcoin ownership goes mainstream, governments treat holders as a revenue line, and holders discover they are a constituency.

South Korea’s repeated delays show how hard it is to tax a popular asset on schedule. Whether 2027 finally holds will say as much about the size of the country’s bitcoin electorate as about its budget.

Why it matters: bitcoin ownership has grown into a voting bloc, and tax timing is now a political negotiation, not just an accounting date.

The ~51,000 signatures, the 50,000-signature review threshold, the 2027→2029 request, the 22% rate on annual gains above 2.5M won, the three prior postponements, and Finance Minister nominee Lee Hyoung-Il’s statement that the tax stays on track are per The Block, The Crypto Basic and Bloomingbit, reporting Sept 13–14, 2026. The levy applies to digital-asset gains broadly; bitcoin is the dominant asset held by South Korean retail investors. Informational only — not financial advice.