South Korea

A cryptocurrency exchange hack in South Korea jolted holders of digital assets, fuelling a $46 billion sell-off and extending this year’s Bitcoin slump to more than 50 per cent. Over […]

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The Council of the European Union announced Tuesday that the EU has amended its blacklist of jurisdictions that it deems uncooperative in tax matters, removing eight jurisdictions from that list.

EU finance ministers removed eight ‘entities’ – countries and territories – from the tax havens blacklist, while ruling out more transparency or sanctions.

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.

European Union officials have proposed removing eight jurisdictions from the blacklist of tax havens the bloc adopted in December, in what critics may see as a blow to its campaign against tax avoidance. EU states decided last month to draw up the list in a bid to discourage the most aggressive tax dodging practices.

Bitcoin resumed its tumble on Thursday after South Korea said it was eyeing options including a potential shutdown of at least some cryptocurrency exchanges to stamp out a frenzy of speculation.
The price of bitcoin on Thursday afternoon in Seoul fell about 8.5 per cent to Won19.93m ($18.534) on Bithumb, one of the world’s busiest virtual currency exchanges, as traders reacted to the measures. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has fallen about 28 per cent from its record high reached last week.

South Korea will ban minors and foreigners from trading in virtual currency or creating bank accounts for them in the country, a government statement obtained by Reuters ahead of an official release showed.

It will also tax profits from income from virtual currency and impose stricter authentication for traders, the Office of Government Policy Coordination, which reports to the prime minister, said.

As Coinivore reports, Shinhan, the second largest commercial bank in South Korea by market valuation in the country is testing a Bitcoin vault and wallet service for its customers that is expected to be released by mid-2018.

A representative of Shinhan Bank told Naver News, a media publication in South Korea in an interview : “It is a service that keeps the blockchain key through the virtual safe provided by the bank. We are looking for ways to provide a free service when depositing and charge a fee when withdrawing.”