South Korea speeds up the adoption of crypto regulation; market reaction is muted so far

07/26/2018 07:23:30 GMT|ByTanya Abrosimova

South Korean government needs crypto laws to prevent fraus and hack attacks.
Bitcoin recovered from daily lows, but the momentum is weak.

South Korean government and local financial authorities are in a hurry to pass cryptocurrency and blockchain legislation with the aim to oversee and regulate the industry and prevent fraud.

The new regulatory framework will cover a wide range of cryptocurrency related companies and blockchain startups and foster rapid growth of local crypto exchanges along with decentralized projects.

“While crypto markets have seen rapid growth, such trading platforms don’t seem to be well-enough prepared in terms of security. We’re trying to legislate the most urgent and important things first, aiming for money-laundering prevention and investor protection. The bill should be passed as soon as possible,” Hong Seong-ki, head of the virtual currency response team at South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, explained.

South Korea is one of the biggest crypto markets in the world by daily turnover, however two large hack attacks that triggered losses in Bitcoin and Ethereum, attracted increased scrunity from the community. The lawmakers propossed the bill to increased the oversight of crypto exchanges in March, but it has not been approved by the National Assembly yet. The bill implies that crypto exchanges should be supervised by FSC. The regulator will focus on monitoring and policing the activities of the exchanges.

The market reaction is muted so far. Bitcoin is changing hands at $8,269, mostly unchanged on a daiky basis, while Ethereum and Ripple gained 1.4% and 1.7% respecitvely.

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South Korea speeds up the adoption of crypto regulation; market reaction is muted so far

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