coinvietnam
New member
Bitcoin drops $2,000 in value as South Korea announces planned trading ban
The value of bitcoin plunged 13.5% in the early hours of Thursday after news hit that South Korea is planning to ban cryptocurrency trading.
News of the ban follows the raiding of local cryptocurrency exchanges by police and tax authorities over alleged tax evasion, as one of the key nations driving the demand for bitcoin and other virtual currencies attempts a clampdown.
According to Coindesk.com, the price of Bitcoin was about 8% lower at just under $13,800 on Thursday afternoon.
South Korea has become a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for about 20% of global Bitcoin transactions.
.
the local price plunged as much as 21% after the minister’s comments.
It has more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges, according to the Korea Blockchain Industry Association.
Several were raided this week in a probe into alleged tax evasion, including the country's second-largest virtual currency operator, Bithumb.
The government had already said in December that it would apply more scrutiny to the exchanges, including moves to curb anonymous trading.
Given the low levels of trading and relatively small number of people holding virtual currencies, wild price swings have become the norm, leading to an argument that paying too much attention to price rises and falls is futile.
Once a bill is drafted, legislation for an outright ban of virtual coin trading within South Korea will require a majority vote of the total 297 members of the National Assembly, a process that could take months or even years.
Once enforced, South Korea’s ban “will make trading difficult here, but not impossible,” said Mun Chong-hyun, chief analyst at EST Security.
“Keen traders, especially hackers, will find it tough to cash out their gains from virtual coin investments in Korea but they can go overseas, for example Japan,” Mun said.
There are more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, according to the Korea Blockchain Industry Association. Bitcoin’s 1,500% surge since January 2017 has spurred huge demand from many demographics, from college students to housewives, stoking worries of a growing gambling addiction in the country.
By Thursday afternoon, more than 55,000 South Koreans had signed a petition asking the presidential Blue House to stop the crackdown on the virtual currency, bringing the government website to a halt.
The South Korean-prompted market fluctuation came a day after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he would never invest in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, and predicted the wildly popular assets are in for a fall.
But many do not share Buffet’s scepticism, with companies such as Kodak rocketing in value by launching new cryptocurrencies and some simply by putting the word blockchain in their name.
The value of bitcoin plunged 13.5% in the early hours of Thursday after news hit that South Korea is planning to ban cryptocurrency trading.
News of the ban follows the raiding of local cryptocurrency exchanges by police and tax authorities over alleged tax evasion, as one of the key nations driving the demand for bitcoin and other virtual currencies attempts a clampdown.
According to Coindesk.com, the price of Bitcoin was about 8% lower at just under $13,800 on Thursday afternoon.
South Korea has become a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for about 20% of global Bitcoin transactions.
.
the local price plunged as much as 21% after the minister’s comments.
It has more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges, according to the Korea Blockchain Industry Association.
Several were raided this week in a probe into alleged tax evasion, including the country's second-largest virtual currency operator, Bithumb.
The government had already said in December that it would apply more scrutiny to the exchanges, including moves to curb anonymous trading.
Given the low levels of trading and relatively small number of people holding virtual currencies, wild price swings have become the norm, leading to an argument that paying too much attention to price rises and falls is futile.
Once a bill is drafted, legislation for an outright ban of virtual coin trading within South Korea will require a majority vote of the total 297 members of the National Assembly, a process that could take months or even years.
Once enforced, South Korea’s ban “will make trading difficult here, but not impossible,” said Mun Chong-hyun, chief analyst at EST Security.
“Keen traders, especially hackers, will find it tough to cash out their gains from virtual coin investments in Korea but they can go overseas, for example Japan,” Mun said.
There are more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, according to the Korea Blockchain Industry Association. Bitcoin’s 1,500% surge since January 2017 has spurred huge demand from many demographics, from college students to housewives, stoking worries of a growing gambling addiction in the country.
By Thursday afternoon, more than 55,000 South Koreans had signed a petition asking the presidential Blue House to stop the crackdown on the virtual currency, bringing the government website to a halt.
The South Korean-prompted market fluctuation came a day after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he would never invest in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, and predicted the wildly popular assets are in for a fall.
But many do not share Buffet’s scepticism, with companies such as Kodak rocketing in value by launching new cryptocurrencies and some simply by putting the word blockchain in their name.
