Hailed as one of the fastest growing markets in the world, South Korea has had many international companies set its sights on expanding its Asian outputs further into the area. This was emphasised even further by Ripple's VP, Eric van Miltenburg, who called for South Korea to relax its laws concerning cryptocurrency . By changing its laws, South Korea could see its economy booming and cement its position as a global powerhouse. In an interview with The Korea Times, Miltenburg argued that the regulations needed to help control the cryptocurrency market should be promoting the market, rather than slowing down its inevitable growth. Miltenburg encouraged the government to focus on the positives of these emerging technological advances, rather than the negatives pushed by the media. With countries like Japan and Russia already beginning to incorporate cryptocurrency into their financial services, Miltenburg seems to be encouraging other countries to follow their lead in relaxing regulations surrounding this emerging market. In September 2017, South Korea banned ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) following a wave of heavy regulations against cryptocurrencies . But Miltenburg argues that soon, the positives will outweigh the negatives and present what he argues could be 'the new internet' phenomenon. He also notes that South Korea could gain a huge amount from blockchain companies, which have begun setting up in regulation-friendly countries, such as Switzerland and Singapore. Seeing as South Korea boasts the third largest cryptocurrency market by volume globally, they would do well to reverse these stifling regulations. Since the article was released, South Korea has already begun to take steps to change and adapt the laws and regulations concerning cryptocurrency. Earlier this month, the country's court ruled that Bitcoin should be seen as an asset. Miltenburg believes that these first few steps could act as 'a springboard' for South Korea to become a dominant force in the global financial market, setting its economy up for a huge level of growth over the next decade.