Bitcoin Holds Near $80,000 Amid Iran Sanctions as Korea Accelerates Legislation Debate

The targeted areas cover five sectors, including digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. The sanctions name 60 individuals and entities, and a warning was issued that anyone cooperating with Iran could be cut off from the US dollar system.

The inclusion of digital assets in these sanctions is highly symbolic. Beyond existing financial and oil-related sanctions, expanding the scope to cover digital assets and gold signals Washington's intent to shut down, at the root, the possibility of evading sanctions through bitcoin or ethereum.

This suggests a secondary sanctions move against a specific bank could come soon.

Despite the negative news from the Iran sanctions, bitcoin has been relatively resilient. It attempted to break above $80,000 and is currently holding support in the upper $79,000 range.

This is expected to inject liquidity into the market and help stabilize yields.

The won-dollar exchange rate has consistently dipped below the 1,400 won level and continues to stay stable. The prevailing outlook is that if the rate holds around 1,380 won through the Bank of Korea's August 27 monetary policy meeting, the odds of a rate freeze will increase. A stable exchange rate eases pressure from rate hikes and could expand the investing capacity of Korean crypto investors.

Even as bitcoin's dollar price rises, the won-denominated return stagnates, and Korean investors feel a loss. This resembles the asset valuation declines seen among so-called 'seohak ants' who invest in overseas stocks.

Even when bitcoin prices jumped sharply on the 21st, the reverse premium recorded -1.58%. This situation, combined with institutional uncertainty such as the introduction of crypto tax law, is dampening domestic investor sentiment.

On the 24th, at a full National Assembly Political Affairs Committee session, FSC Chair Kim Byung-hwan personally addressed the government's preparations for phase-two digital asset legislation and expressed resolve. When lawmaker Lee Kang-il urged that the government bill not slip into the next year, Chair Kim said the authorities have completed all preparations and will speed up consultations, so progress is expected this fall.

The main issues in phase-two of the Digital Asset Basic Act can be broadly grouped into five. The first is stablecoin regulation, the second is the institutionalization of token issuance, the third is disclosure duties and listing guidelines, the fourth is tighter regulation of operators' business conduct, and the fifth is governance at exchanges. In particular, bank participation in stablecoin issuer eligibility is under discussion, and securing 100% reserve assets is being emphasized to prevent a repeat of the Terra-Luna collapse. These efforts aim to secure transparency and stability.

Capping the major shareholder stake in crypto exchanges at 20% is being seriously discussed. A carve-out allowing up to 34% where no conflicts of interest arise is also under review, but the introduction of a stake cap itself appears nearly settled. This is seen as a measure to raise exchanges' fairness and transparency.

Following this case, proposals to store user assets separately and to mandate rigorous verification of exchange ledgers are being actively discussed. In particular, lawmaker Lee Hun-seung raised doubts about Bithumb's ledger verification and pointed to inadequate internal control systems at the exchange.

Bitcoin itself cannot be duplicated within an exchange, but internally issued tokens can be duplicated, which can lead to erroneous payouts. This situation is interpreted as a structural problem similar to the phantom share incident at Samsung Securities. It is not merely a Bithumb issue but an internal control problem that can arise across financial companies, and it can be resolved if financial operating principles are properly applied.

After President Donald Trump mentioned moving forward with regulation related to Perp DEXs, the CFTC's (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) related regulation and business-development discussions have drawn renewed attention.

Centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX) were once competitors, but they are increasingly combining. Coinbase has integrated Hyperliquid's functionality into its Base app, and Robinhood is actively supporting Lyra. This suggests the boundary between institutional finance and the decentralized ecosystem is blurring.

Currently, perpetual futures fall under different agencies depending on whether the underlying asset is a commodity or a stock, and the company has proposed consolidating these. This is analyzed as groundwork for introducing perpetual futures as an institutional financial product.

Hyperliquid's perpetual futures trading volume is roughly six times that of Lyra, and its fee revenue is more than 20 to 25 times higher. Meanwhile, Lyra offers most trades for free, and its main revenue model is premium account subscription fees for institutional traders. Lyra differentiates its service by offering faster trade execution through staking.

Both platforms reward users by buying back or burning tokens funded by fee revenue. In particular, Lyra manages part of its revenue in a DAO treasury to encourage community participation.