Interesting fact about @MaplestoryU and Korean Bureaucrats

This recent case involving @MaplestoryU 's token listing on Korean exchanges and the Korea's regulation of in-game play once again reminded me of how uniquely complex Korea can be.

1. Since games must not be classified as gambling, Korean regulations strictly prohibit players from earning in-game assets that can be exchanged for value.

2. At the same time, there has been ongoing criticism of Korean users being used merely as a “liquidity exit” for foreign-led crypto projects—so-called “burger coins”—with demands for stricter listing standards (though it’s debatable whether stricter standards really change anything).

And yet, the MapleStory token( $NXPC) is being listed on all major domestic exchanges, while the game itself is essentially blocked in Korea from allowing players to earn tokens—resulting in a situation where only overseas players can actually supply the token.

Ironically, @MaplestoryU could have been the perfect case where Korean users became the largest suppliers of a game token.

In the end, this situation brings to mind the words of the great economist Ludwig von Mises: when regulation meets regulation, it often leads to unintended consequences.