Bitcoin sinks 14pc below US$13,000 after South Korea mulls ban on cryptocurrency trading
South Korea intensifies crackdown on speculative trading in virtual currencies in the country, citing “great concerns”
Bitcoin prices plunged on Thursday by nearly 14 per cent, after South Korea intensified its crackdown on virtual currencies and considers a ban on all cryptocurrency trading in the country, one of the world’s largest bitcoin markets.
Bitcoin opened at US$14,890.72, but then quickly started its decline to a low of US$12,845.71 at noon, according to an index by specialist virtual currency news site CoinDesk that tracks prices from exchanges such as Bitstamp, Coinbase and Bitfinex.
By 5pm Hong Kong time, it was trading at US$13,723.94, down 7.8 per cent.
Earlier in the day, South Korea’s justice minister Park Sang-ki said the government was preparing a bill to ban all cryptocurrency trading in the country, which is a key market for bitcoin and ethereum trading.
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Park cited “great concerns” about virtual currencies.
The comment from Park came after South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges were raided by police and tax agencies this week for alleged tax evasion, according to a report by Reuters.
Why is South Korea suddenly terrified of bitcoin?
South Korea houses some of the world’s most active virtual currency exchanges, including Bithumb and Coinone.
The speculative trading on Korean exchanges has caused CoinMarketCap, a data compiler for cryptocurrencies, to exclude their prices.
“This morning we excluded some Korean exchanges in price calculations due to the extreme divergence in prices from the rest of the world and limited arbitrage opportunity,” CoinMarketCap said earlier this week.
In December, South Korean Financial Service Commission said that it would prohibit crypto exchanges from issuing new trading accounts from January.
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China too has already banned bitcoin trading and initial coin offerings since September and is currently clamping down on relevant mining activity.
