The turbulent December continued in January this year as well, after the South Korean government expressed its concerns regarding the lack of regulatory control over the cryptocurrency exchanges.
South Korea is in the first phase of the massive adoption of the cryptocurrencies since last year. The government fought to continue with the development and trading in the sector where arbitration between exchanges is a normal thing. Earlier in December, the government of South Korea revealed plans to close some exchanges in the country and has repeated those plans this week.
Bitcoin was recently traded 30% more on the South Korean markets than on other international markets, according to Bloomberg. It looks like regulators intend to stop bitcoin or at least slow it down, decreasing the popularity of the most popular cryptocurrency in the world. In a statement for the media, the South Korean government expressed concerns about the obsession with cryptocurrencies in the country: “The speculation with cryptocurrencies is extremely popular in South Korea. The government cannot allow this abnormal situation with speculations any more.”
The plans to obtain some degree of control over the cryptocurrency trade will forbid the banks to open virtual account for cryptocurrency exchanges. Furthermore, the government repeated its intention to close the cryptocurrency exchanges, but did not provide more details about that topic.
The South Korean market is responsible for one fifth of the cryptocurrency trade in the world and the recent statement from the government caused corrections on the market. The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum dropped, probably as a reaction to the uncertain situation in South Korea.
The price of bitcoin went down 12% and went from 14,900 dollars to 13,100 dollars per coin. However, the market recovered to a large degree and the price went up to 14,800 dollars again.
