South Korea is planning regulation on cryptocurrency

South Korean policymakers joined the global chorus of virtual-coin critics on Thursday, saying Seoul is considering shutting down domestic virtual currency exchanges as the new breed of market exposes users to speculative frenzy and crime.

The country’s tough stance comes as policymakers from the United States to Germany struggle to come up with stricter regulation against money laundering and other crimes.

Responding to questions in parliament, South Korea’s chief of the Financial Services Commission said: “(The government) is considering both shutting down all local virtual currency exchanges or just the ones who have been violating the law.”

Separately, Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol told a news conference that “cryptocurrency is not a legal currency and is not being used as such as of now.”

Regulators around the world are still debating how to address risks posed by cryptocurrencies, as bitcoin, the world’s most popular virtual currency, soared more than 1,700 percent last year.

Prices have plummeted since South Korea announced last week it may ban domestic cryptocurrency exchanges. On Wednesday, bitcoin slid 18 percent.

According to Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest virtual currency exchange, the nation’s bitcoin trading price stood at 15,697,000 won ($14,690.69) as of 0314 GMT on Thursday.

Hong Nam-ki, minister of the office for government policy co-ordination, said that opinions on cryptocurrency trading are sharply divided within the government, but vowed to make a decision on regulations during Thursday’s parliamentary session.

South Korea’s justice minister said last week the ministry was preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading, which sent bitcoin prices sharply lower and threw the market into turmoil.
Threats of a potential cryptocurrency trading ban in South Korea have scared many investors away, but some veterans of the young market are defiant, saying restrictions would be relatively easy to circumvent.

Although the cryptocurrency market lost about $200 billion this week, or a third of its value, these investors – known within the community as “hodlers” after a misspelled meme that went viral during Bitcoin’s early days – are used to rollercoaster rides.

China’s shutdown of local exchanges in September, for instance, caused a 50 percent drop in Bitcoin, but prices rebounded eight-fold to almost $20,000. Currently valued around $10,000, Bitcoin could be poised for a similar whirlwind this time around, some say.

Places like Singapore and Hong Kong maintain light regulations, while neighboring Japan has encouraged a vast ecosystem of companies and investors around digital assets by pioneering a set of rules for the industry. Germany has said national restrictions may be useless.

According to industry experts, the first step to circumventing a ban is hiding IP addresses from authorities via virtual private networks (VPNs).

Traders can then continue business as usual. Decentralized exchanges, such as Shapeshift or Stellar Dex, do not require identification and can be accessed from anywhere.

Cryptocurrency wallets such as Exodus and Jaxx are linked to such exchanges, so trading and storing the assets can still be anonymous. Authorities in countries with strong legal protections may need a warrant to check computers or smartphones for proof of such activity.

Even then, unless caught in the act, the holder can claim no trading has taken place since the legislation was approved and has forgotten the password for the wallet.

Some decentralized exchanges offer derivative products that allow betting on the price of a cryptocurrency against a fiat currency, including the Korean won and Chinese yuan. But cashing out in fiat is not possible on such exchanges.

An option in that case is to trade all cryptocurrencies for a top one such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin, and sell it at one the 2,064 crypto ATMs in 61 countries, although the transaction fees can exceed 10 percent. If need be, coins can be stored on offline “wallets” the size of a USB stick.

Alternatively, holders can open bank accounts in countries that have not banned Bitcoin, then join a local centralized exchange where they can trade cryptocurrencies for fiat.