Business
08:39, 29-Dec-2017
S. Korea to impose new curbs on cryptocurrency trading
["china"]
Share
Copied
S. Korea’s government said on Thursday it will impose additional measures to regulate speculation in cryptocurrency trading within the country.
“The government had warned several times that virtual coins cannot play a role as actual currency and could result in high losses due to excessive volatility,” the government said in a statement.
It noted that trading prices of most virtual currencies were much higher on S. Korean exchanges than they were on exchanges in other countries, although it did not provide specific examples.
The steps will include a ban on opening anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and new legislation to allow regulators to close virtual coin exchanges if needed, a measure recommended by the justice ministry, the statement said.
S. Korea had previously announced its plan to tax capital gains from cryptocurrency trading to tackle what it sees as the risk of excessive speculation.
Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has gained more than 19-fold this year.
In S. Korea, bitcoin has been extremely popular, drawing wide participation from housewives and students. As of 0304 GMT, it stood at 14,384 US dollars on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.
Source(s): Reuters