South Korea’s government is remaining firm on eradicating illegal acts in cryptocurrency trading while stating that it will be actively pursuing the blockchain.
In a video published today, Hong Nam-ki, the minister of the office for government policy coordination, said that the government had responded to ‘various illegal acts’ regarding digital currency trading, adding that:
…the government has consistently maintained a close and careful approach to market conditions and international trends, keeping all possible means open.
Nam-ki’s remarks come at a time of the government’s response to a petition that saw 280,000 signatures opposing a severe clampdown on cryptocurrency exchanges. The government now has to officially respond to the petition as with any petition that has more than 200,000 signatures on it.
At the end of January South Korea banned the use of anonymous digital currency trading accounts, ordering investors to use real-name accounts instead if they wished to continue trading. However, unlike measures taken in China it doesn’t appear that South Korea intends to ban domestic exchanges.
Rather that the government is placing a priority on the transparency of cryptocurrency transactions within the ‘framework of the current law.’
Nam-ki added:
These undesirable things occurred during the check-up process, such as money laundering through an unconfirmed virtual account or, in some cases, depositing customer money in the accounts of employees in the business.
He said, though, that ‘various opinions within the government’ still exist as to whether cryptocurrency transactions should be prohibited or if they should be accepted.
He went on to say that:
In relation to this, the prime minister recently said at the plenary session that “the issue of prohibiting the use of virtual currency exchange facilities is one of many possibilities, and the government is not currently doing the most serious consideration”. The government is going to examine it closely as we look at global trends and developments in technology.
Earlier this week it was reported that as a way of regulating digital currency exchanges in South Korea, the government was considering adopting a licensing system similar to the New York ‘BitLicense.’
An official from the government ministry involved with the cryptocurrency task force is reported as saying in BusinessKorea that:
We are positively considering the adoption of an exchange approval system as the additional regulation on cryptocurrencies. We are most likely [going to] benchmark the model of the State of New York that gives a selective permission.
Featured image from Shutterstock.