Presidential candidates from the two major political parties announced pledges regarding virtual assets, in apparent moves to seek support from voters in their 20s and 30s, considered to be the deciding vote in the March 9 elections.

Meeting with heads of cryptocurrency exchanges on Wednesday, ruling Democratic Party(DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung pledged to look into permitting initial coin offerings(ICO). Lee made the pledge on the condition that a system is adopted to protect investors and prevent market disturbance.

The DP candidate also promised to accelerate the enactment of a law to protect investors and operators of virtual assets, and to consider allowing security token offering(STO) that can be used to trade real financial assets.

In announcing his pledge, main opposition People Power Party(PPP) candidate Yoon Suk Yeol promised to allow ICOs, starting with the adoption of initial exchange offering(IEO) as a safety net.

Yoon added that his administration will exempt taxes on cryptocurrency profits of up to 50 million won, while confiscating all proceeds from price manipulation, cross trading and other unfair practices.