South Korea indicates it will take more permissive stance on cryptocurrencies
Seoul — South Korea’s government gave the strongest signal yet that it will allow cryptocurrency exchanges to keep operating in the country, a welcome development for traders who had feared an outright ban in one of the world’s biggest markets for digital assets. Policy makers will focus on making cryptocurrency trading transparent rather than outlawing it altogether, Hong Nam-ki, minister of the Office for Government Policy Co-ordination, said in a video a posted on the presidential website. It was the government’s first co-ordinated response to the public uproar over a justice ministry proposal in December to shut digital-asset exchanges. Talk of a ban in Korea had rattled traders around the world, fuelling concern that the country might cut off a key source of demand for bitcoin and its peers. Regulators globally are grappling with how to respond to the cryptocurrency boom, with responses ranging from an exchange ban in China to a licensing system in Japan. Korea appears to be le...
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