Blockchain is the great process of civilization like the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the emergence of modern capitalism. Blockchain is a giant step toward civilization, more advanced than the Internet.

Lee Jung-yup, chairman of the Korea Blockchain Law Society, said the core power of the future is information. “We should know where information gathers, and how we process information,” he said.

What is lamentable is that Koreans seem to overlook the importance of information as an engine for the future, he said in an interview with the Block Media this week.

He is a senior judge of the district court in Eujongbu, north of Seoul. He and 430 lawers, scholars, and businesspersons have launched the law society. He said blockchain technology is the tool to capitalize on information.

In the past, countries undergoing the Industrial Revolution became industrialized while nations which fail to ride the Industrial Revolution have remained underdeveloped, he said.

In the same way, countries fast adapting themselves to the emerging blockchain technology will be ahead of the other countries, he said.

He likened Bitcoin to the technology extracting oil from the oil field. All oil fields do not generate money. Only when people take out the oil from the ground, the oil field is making money, he said.

These days information is money. Bitcoin is the first case which converted information into cash. Bitcoin became possible thanks to blockchain technology, he said.

Economy historians often said property registry had powered the development of capitalism in the United Kingdom. As land entered the record, the concept of capital has formed. On the basis, people built factories and infrastructure and created wealth, Lee said.

After the emergence of the registry, capitalism was born. “We are now doing capitalization of information. If Korea takes advantage of this trend, she can create new capital and take off. One person cannot make this process happen. We need developers, financiers, businessmen, and lawyers for converting information into capital,” the judge added.

He said information means money. People would buy important information while shunning lousy information. Useful information gets expensive, while the wrong information gets worthless. In the market place, the token economy is emerging. In the blockchain platform, people would buy and sell information through tokens, he added.

He said the cryptocurrency exchange platform is vital for Korea. The exchange is the place where information asset gathers. Korea needs to expand the network of the exchanges, he added.

He said blockchain has just emerged. No regulations exist. Korea seems to follow the U.S. trend. However, “If we miss this opportunity, we would be struggling in catching up with the trend.”
He said Korea should foster the global competitiveness of the platform industry. Korea has the technology to build a worldwide network. However, Korea seems to be hesitating in developing the blockchain.

He views Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra would create a global economic platform. Facebook seeks to tear down high barriers between IT and finance.

He said the government seems to be behind the emerging global trend. No law exists to cope with blockchain business. Blockchain is the technology that would become a game-changer for the South Korean economy.