South korea ban on bitcoin

South Korea’s crypto craze has morphed into a blockchain boom
Cryptocurrency Exchange Regulations

From coffee shops to fast food joints across the sprawling capital city of Seoul, a new obsession emerged seemingly out of nowhere. Frustrated by limited investing opportunities in a stagnant economy, angered by hopeless politics, and driven by greed, millions of Koreans hopped aboard the cryptocurrency bandwagon as bitcoin took off on its extraordinary run in late The momentum was such that, by late December, according to one survey , three out of every 10 salaried workers in Korea had invested in cryptocurrencies.

South Korea considers shutting down domestic cryptocurrency exchanges

The party ended far more abruptly than it began, as the Korean government, belatedly, swooped in to tamp down on the unregulated speculative frenzy. Tumbling cryptocurrency prices further took the wind out of the market. The mania died quickly, painfully. Yet, from the ashes of the crypto craze, a blockchain boom has emerged.

Future Cryptocurrency Regulations

There are already projects underway, backed by heavyweight local businesses, that could bring services built on blockchain platforms into the lives of almost every Korean. Beyond the private sector, government agencies are also embracing distributed ledgers, including a blockchain-based voting system.

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Even more notably, this is all taking place in a remarkable regulatory limbo. The Korean government first got to grips with cryptocurrencies, as Park Sung-joon tells it, in late when the Korea Internet and Security Agency, part of the ministry of science, started studying the ecosystem. It was a period of extraordinary political turmoil in Korea, with the impeachment of president Park Geun-hye followed by elections in the summer of , which brought Moon Jae-in to power.

The messy politics, together with high youth unemployment and a sluggish economy, served as a catalyst to stoke interest in crypto.

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› news › business South Korea has been on the forefront of the cryptocurrency boom and ago approved in committee a bill that would effectively ban Tada and.

This is the only way out of this misery. With few Know Your Customer KYC requirements to comply with, ordinary Koreans opened anonymous trading accounts at a dozen or so cryptocurrency exchanges and began playing the market. Then, starting in May , around the time the Moon administration took office, a series of initial coin offerings ICOs in the country drew investor interest, raising millions.

The news spread like wildfire in a country where things can go viral very fast. Suddenly, in September , the government banned ICOs. Later that month, the government announced a tightening of cryptocurrency regulations , putting a stop to anonymous trading accounts.

The markets recoiled , and Koreans reacted by petitioning the authorities to go easy, such as this poetic plea:. I might be able to live a life doing something I want to do. However, now it appears the country is backtracking. Bloomberg reports that South Korea's regulators have indicated that they will continue to support "normal" trading of the cryptocurrency. In late , South Korea, which is the third largest market for cryptocurrency, began cracking down on Bitcoin traders.

It banned initial coin offerings and stopped allowing anonymous cryptocurrency accounts. At the beginning of this year, South Korean officials announced an outright ban on cryptocurrency trading was in the works. Many cryptocurrencies were priced higher on South Korea's exchanges than in the rest of the world, and officials in the country thought of it as gambling. There was also the fear that cryptocurrency trading could lead to tax evasion.

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On Thursday, the South Korean commission said in a statement , translated by CNBC, that it is prohibiting cryptocurrency exchanges from issuing new trading accounts. Just a year ago, the focus was elsewhere. The commission adds that since much of the cryptocurrency trading was being done anonymously, users must now use their real names and anonymous trading is no longer allowed. Bitcoin has undergone quite the drama over the past few weeks, as the value of the cryptocurrency plunged. List of Partners vendors.

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South Korea considers shutting down domestic cryptocurrency exchanges | Reuters

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