"The Bank of Korea has expressed reluctance regarding discussions about including Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves."

"On the 16th, the Bank of Korea responded to written inquiries from Representative Cha Gyu-geun of the Joguk Innovation Party, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, stating that "a cautious approach is needed regarding the inclusion of Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves."

The Bank of Korea has no plans to include Bitcoin in its foreign exchange reserves despite suggestions from a lawmaker and experts.

In response to written inquiries by Representative Cha Gyu-geun of the Joguk Innovation Party, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee, the Bank of Korea said a cautious approach is needed regarding the inclusion of Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves.

This is the first time the central bank has stated its stance on Bitcoin.

The central bank said the main issue is the high volatility of prices. Earlier, the price of Bitcoin surged to around 160 million won in January, but it has since dropped to 110 million won.

Among market experts, there are diverse opinions, ranging from predictions of Bitcoin exceeding 1 billion won in the future to assessments that it wouldn't be surprising if its value suddenly dropped to zero.

"If the virtual asset market becomes unstable, there are concerns that transaction costs could rapidly increase during the process of converting Bitcoin to cash, which does not align with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) criteria for calculating foreign exchange reserves," the Bank of Korea explained.

According to IMF standards for foreign exchange reserves, they should be immediately available when needed, have liquidity and marketability, be denominated in convertible currencies, and generally have credit ratings at or above investment grade.

"To date, we have not discussed or reviewed the inclusion of Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves, and the Czech Republic and Brazil have expressed positive opinions, while the European Central Bank (ECB), Swiss Central Bank, and Japanese government have negative views," the Bank of Korea added.

Representative Cha also assessed that including Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves at this time would be inappropriate.

"The Trump administration's designation of Bitcoin as a strategic asset is for confiscating Bitcoin used in criminal activity," he said.

"While Korea could utilize the Bitcoin it holds, including it in foreign exchange reserves would be inappropriate at this point."

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on the 6th (local time) directing the strategic stockpiling of Bitcoin. However, he drew a line stating that there are no plans to make additional purchases using tax money, and that the stockpiling would target federally owned Bitcoin seized as part of civil and criminal forfeiture proceedings.

In Korea, at a policy seminar held by the Democratic Party's Governance Plan Headquarters, expert opinions were presented suggesting that Korea should also consider including Bitcoin in foreign exchange reserves.