Surcorea stops management for prohibition of Exchanges in the country
The South Korean government announced that it can still ban the trade of cryptocurrencies in exchanges, after seemingly contradictory reports on the matter.
A statement issued on January 15 by the South Korean Government Policy Coordination Office (a branch of the Prime Minister's Secretariat) warned that a national ban on the cryptocurrency trade remains a possibility.
The proclamation made reference to an announcement by Justice Minister Park Sang-ki the previous week, in which he said the government was preparing a bill to ban the trade of virtual currencies through exchanges, causing alarm in the Korean cryptocurrency community.
The dispute deepened when other South Korean government bodies made contradictory announcements later that day.
According to a Korean Herald translation of Monday's statement, it says that the "government decision on the ban will be taken in the future after sufficient consultation and coordination of opinions."
In the same statement, the government promised to "respond energetically to the excessive speculation of virtual currencies and illegal activities", but also to invest in research and development of blockchain.
In addition, the statement said that, after the implementation of the "real name system" (one of several special measures announced on December 28, 2017), cryptocurrency merchants using anonymous accounts should switch to accounts linked to their identities or face fines, according to Yonhap News, a day before the anonymous financial authorities had made an announcement with the same effect.
The statement also noted that "the virtual currency is not legal currency and nobody guarantees its value".
These facts are proof that the South Korean government does not want to take hasty oversight as far as cryptocurrencies are concerned.
Probably when they talk about consulting enough opinions, they refer to meditate the advantages and disadvantages with financial specialists who are up to date with the ecosystem.