가상자산 이용자 보호 등에 관한 법률(이하 ‘가상자산법’)이 지난 7월 18일 법률 제19563호로 공포되었다. 동법은 5개 장, 22개 조문으로 이루어진 길지 않은 법률이지만 가상자산에 대한 최초의 금융규제법이라는 점, 가상자산거래소를 비롯한 가상자산업계에 심대한 영향을 미치게 될 것이라는 점, 향후 가상자산에 관한 기본법으로 나아갈 기초가 될 것이라는 점 등 여러 측면에서 중요성을 지닌다.
본고는 이러한 관점에서 먼저 가상자산법의 입법경위와 법적 의의, 그리고 한계를 검토하였다. 그리고 이를 바탕으로 가상자산법의 조문체계에 따라 총칙(제1장), 이용자 자산의 보호(제2장), 불공정거래규제(제3장), 감독과 처분(제4장)의 순서로 조문의 내용을 살피고 해석 및 적용상의 법적 쟁점을 검토하였다. 총칙에서는 주로 가상자산의 범위가, 이용자자산의 보호에서는 가상자산의 외부위탁이, 불공정거래에서는 거래정보에 대한 규제 등이 문제될 것으로 보인다. 가상자산법이 특정 금융정보의 보고 및 이용 등에 관한 법률상 용어나 개념을 그대로 차용하고 있고, 가상자산사업자의 분류를 체계화하지 아니한 상태에서 주로 가상자산거래소를 중심으로 규율을 마련하였다는 점은 가상자산법 전반에 내포된 문제이다.
가상자산법은 소위 1단계 입법으로 향후 가상자산에 대한 기본법으로의 2단계 입법을 예정하고 있다. 본고에서는 이와 관련하여 가상자산법안 마련 시 국회의 부대의견과 그 밖의 내용을 중심으로 2단계 입법의 방향에 대해서도 검토하였다. 본고의 내용이 1단계 입법으로서 가상자산법의 보완과 향후 해석, 적용 및 2단계 입법의 논의를 함에 있어 참고가 되길 기대한다.
The Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (hereinafter referred to as the "Virtual Asset Act") was promulgated as Act No. 19563 on July 18, 2023. The law is not long, consisting of five chapters and 22 articles, but it is important in many ways, including the first financial regulation law on virtual assets, it will have a significant impact on the virtual asset industry, and it will serve as the basis for future basic laws on virtual assets. From this point of view, this paper first reviewed the legislative progress, legal significance, and limitations of the Virtual Asset Act. Based on this, the contents of the provisions were examined in the order of general rules (Chapter 1), protection of user assets (Chapter 2), unfair trade regulations (Chapter 3), and supervision and disposition (Chapter 4), and legal issues in interpretation and application were reviewed. In the general rules, the scope of virtual assets is mainly expected to be problematic, the external consignment of virtual assets in the protection of user assets, and the regulation of transaction information in unfair trade. The fact that the Virtual Asset Act borrows terms or concepts from the Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information, etc. and establishes regulations mainly around virtual asset exchanges without systematizing the classification of virtual asset service providers is a problem. The Virtual Asset Act is a so–called first–step legislation, and plans to legislate in the second stage as a basic law for virtual assets in the future. In this regard, the direction of the second–stage legislation was also reviewed, focusing on the additional opinions of the National Assembly and other contents when preparing the Virtual Asset Bill. As a first–step legislation, it is expected that the contents of this paper will be used as a reference in supplementing the Virtual Asset Act and discussing future interpretation, application, and second–step legislation.
The Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (hereinafter referred to as the "Virtual Asset Act") was promulgated as Act No. 19563 on July 18, 2023. The law is not long, consisting of five chapters and 22 articles, but it is important in many ways, including the first financial regulation law on virtual assets, it will have a significant impact on the virtual asset industry, and it will serve as the basis for future basic laws on virtual assets. From this point of view, this paper first reviewed the legislative progress, legal significance, and limitations of the Virtual Asset Act. Based on this, the contents of the provisions were examined in the order of general rules (Chapter 1), protection of user assets (Chapter 2), unfair trade regulations (Chapter 3), and supervision and disposition (Chapter 4), and legal issues in interpretation and application were reviewed. In the general rules, the scope of virtual assets is mainly expected to be problematic, the external consignment of virtual assets in the protection of user assets, and the regulation of transaction information in unfair trade. The fact that the Virtual Asset Act borrows terms or concepts from the Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information, etc. and establishes regulations mainly around virtual asset exchanges without systematizing the classification of virtual asset service providers is a problem. The Virtual Asset Act is a so–called first–step legislation, and plans to legislate in the second stage as a basic law for virtual assets in the future. In this regard, the direction of the second–stage legislation was also reviewed, focusing on the additional opinions of the National Assembly and other contents when preparing the Virtual Asset Bill. As a first–step legislation, it is expected that the contents of this paper will be used as a reference in supplementing the Virtual Asset Act and discussing future interpretation, application, and second–step legislation.