Heo Se-young, CEO of Lucent Block, held an emergency press conference with the Korea Startup Forum at Maru180 in Gangnam District, Seoul, on the morning of the 27th. The event came as the failure to win a preliminary license for a fractional investment over-the-counter exchange became an issue at this year’s parliamentary audit, and more than 30 reporters attended.
“Beyond the matter of one company, I am leaving this record so that other people’s challenges become at least a little safer. And we will not give up to the end,” Heo said. “I hope this kind of thing never happens again in the Republic of Korea.”
Lucent Block was designated an innovative financial service (regulatory sandbox) by the Financial Services Commission in 2018 and has operated a real estate fractional investment platform. It issued and distributed assets for 500,000 users without any financial incident. However, it lost out in the preliminary licensing for fractional investment OTC exchanges finalized at the FSC’s regular meeting on Feb. 13. The FSC said Lucent Block received relatively low scores on equity capital, funding plans, long-term business plans, governance and conflict-of-interest prevention systems.
At this year’s parliamentary audit, the Lucent Block issue was taken up in three standing committees: the National Policy Committee, the Strategy and Finance Committee and the Industry, Trade, Resources and SMEs Committee. Eight lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties made remarks such as that Lucent Block should be given another chance.