Jan 11 Update:
This was all FUD; the South Korean government has no intention of banning/closing cryptocurrency exchanges. See this tweet and its comment thread, and this article clarifying the issue.
Original post:
The market tanked again on Jan 10, 2018 after Reuters reported that "[South Korea]’s police and tax authorities raided local exchanges on alleged tax evasion", and that "the government is preparing a bill to ban trading of the virtual currency on domestic exchanges". There is hope for Koreans, however:
Once a bill is drafted, legislation for an outright ban of virtual coin trading will require a majority vote of the total 297 members of the National Assembly, a process that could take months or even years.
Given its seeming popularity in the country, maybe that vote will not be in favour of the draconian proposal.
Then again, CoinJournal reports that such claims are untrue:
the South Korean government has never released such a statement. The official document released by the South Korean government translated by CoinJournal read:
- The government will continue to evaluate the cryptocurrency trading trend and impose practical regulations in a timely manner.
- The Ministry of Justice has drafted a special cryptocurrency law and is considering the possibility of closing down exchanges involved in suspicious or illicit activities such as money laundering.
- The government will strictly handle speculative movements in the local cryptocurrency market but will facilitate the growth of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies.
According to CoinJournal, only exchanges who have acted illegally are at risk of being shut down. So was the news that Reuters reported on simply lost in translation? Generally I'd believe Reuters over most other sources, given their high standards of journalistic integrity, so I'm inclined to go with them. But I'm curious if there are other sources to corroborate the story that seems to be impacting the overall market so much.
UPDATE
Breaking news:
The South Korea Ministry of Strategy and Finance, one of the main member agencies of the South Korean government’s cryptocurrency regulation task force, has come out and said that it does not agree with the premature statement of the Ministry of Justice about a potential cryptocurrency trading ban.
In a press conference, the South Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance told local reporters that it had first heard of the Ministry of Justice’s cryptocurrency trading ban through media reports. The cryptocurrency task force participated by the central bank, MInistry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, and other agencies have not agreed upon the proposal.
The South Korean MInistry of Strategy and Finance emphasized that it does not agree with the proposal of the Ministry of Justice.
“We do not share the same views as the Ministry of Justice on a potential cryptocurrency exchange ban,” MSF said.