(Financial Services Commission's Website)

A top financial regulator said Wednesday that it is necessary to step up global cooperation in effectively responding to crimes involving digital assets as transactions take place across borders with their impact on traditional financial markets fast expanding.

Kim So-young, vice chair of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), highlighted the need in the inauguration meeting of the recently launched private-government task force on digital assets, adding that more efforts should be made to protect investors from the market whose growth and volatility have increased significantly.

How to regulate the digital asset market has drawn keen attention especially in the wake of the recent market crash of such cryptocurrencies as TerraUSD and its sister coin Luna.

"Given the cross-border nature of digital assets, global coordination should be intensified while at the same the capability of law enforcement authorities to monitor relevant information should be beefed up in response to relevant crimes," he said.

"The need has also grown to increase the protection of investors and ensure market stability as the size of the global digital asset market and its volatility have expanded," he added.

Kim emphasized that "interconnectedness" between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial markets has been growing fast, raising the need for authorities to effectively respond to any risks related to their use in payments, regulatory oversight and such assets held by financial companies.

In a bid to achieve "sound" nurturing of the digital asset industry using such technology as blockchain, Kim said that the government should take a "technology-neutral" stance and seek regulatory modernization in a way that would enhance consumer benefits and induce creation of "quality" jobs. (Yonhap)