North Korean Bitcoin Miner. WTF?! South Korea Helps Prop Up Bitcoin...

North Korea

So apparently there are folks saying that there is a Bitcoin node of a miner running in North Korea. That to me sounds ridiculous given the amount of how all internet traffic in and out of that country gets monitored and blocked, but I'm just here to cover the news.

And for people new to Bitcoin, miners are basically people who put together machine hardware and software to create Bitcoin. The name miner can as well be thought of as someone digging for gold and putting them in pieces called bullion. That's kind of how I see it.

So Kim (below), the president of North Korea has been in some pretty serious heat this past year about firing missiles off his coast. And currently the US and South Korea is in high alert in that region. This news about a bitcoin mining operation going on in North Korea really fits into that earlier news about a few months ago on how the ransomeware attack which was supposedly tied to North Korea could now be related to this case. But as for now tying both is still a rumor. To recall, the ransomeware attack was a computerized attack locking people from their computer and essential applications, and then releasing the lock if they pay in Bitcoin.

There is speculation that the government of North Korea can be using this operation to finance and fund related activities because as of right now, they face tough economic sanctions led by the US and partners. If I were to assume this news as true, then this would be government related by North Korea as the chances of regular North Korean citizens having internet access is close to 0.

The easiest possible way to block this North Korean miner would be to cut them off. Now how they will go about doing this is anyone's guess right now.

South Korea

This is the latest news for the month with respect to South Korea. The country of South Korea has made steps to regulate Bitcoin. By regulating Bitcoin, it sets capital requirements, liquidity measures, and privacy rules to ensure safety to its government and citizens. This supposedly has helped prop the price of Bitcoin, by giving people the confidence to know that they can transact more safely that before.

In addition, remittances can be covered, thus allowing people to send and receive bitcoin peer-to-peer via supported financial institutions. So now since this is certain, it will definitely cause more competition between banks since banks make their money from fees.

In relation to the poorest regions in the Asian Pacific, this measure passed by the South Korean government early in July, establishes confidence for countries like Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia as they try and adopt Bitcoin even more.

Currently right now as far as rank, South Korea takes third place in Bitcoin transactions. The first and second place is Japan, and the US respectively.