South Korean authorities have signalled support for what they have described as ‘normal’ digital currency trading, boosting bitcoin’s price.
Previous reports have indicated that the South Korean government had hinted at an outright ban on digital currency exchanges. At the end of January, the nation’s authorities banned the use of anonymous crypto trading accounts, ordering traders to use real-name accounts instead as the government scrambled to rein in the market amid speculative prices. At the time it was believed that authorities were preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.
Yet, in an apparent shift Choe Heungsik, governor of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), has said that he wants to see normalised trading of cryptocurrencies, reports Bloomberg.
Arthur Hayes, Chief Executive Officer of BitMEX, a Seychelles-based peer-to-peer crypto-coin trading platform, said:
“South Korea did not ban bitcoin. We’ve now gone up almost double in the last few weeks, and I think a lot of this is people coming around to the fact that bitcoin trading isn’t going anywhere.”
Bitcoin’s value has increased on the back of the efforts the FSS is working at. According to Heungsik, these efforts include establishing money laundering guidelines and a real-name account system to normalise digital currency trading.
Hayes added:
“People are seeing governments are not out to ban crypto trading.”
At the time of publishing bitcoin is trading at $11,656, representing a 35.36 percent rise over the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap. Considering the digital currency was trading at just above $6,000 at the beginning of February, it has made a steady comeback.
A rise in market values can also be attributed to the fact that the South Korean government is considering a licensing system to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in the country similar to New York’s BitLicense. According to an official from the government ministry involved in a cryptocurrency task force, the government is ‘most likely’ going to follow the model that New York already has in place.
Unlike China’s move to ban digital currency trading it appears that South Korea is beginning to take a more embracive approach to the market. Notably, though, while it appears to be following Japan’s lead it’s also keen to ensure that its citizens don’t fall foul of crypto scams or the volatility of the market.
