As the Korean bitcoin ecosystem grows, the government has been discussing whether to regulate the digital currency. A task force was set up in July to evaluate the need for regulations.
Korea Starts On-Site Inspections of Bitcoin ExchangesIn August, lawmaker Park Yong-jin submitted a proposed amendment to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act to provide a regulatory framework for bitcoin and other digital currencies. Early this month, news.Bitcoin.com reported on Korea’s top financial regulators jointly announcing their plans to deal with digital currencies by requiring banks to perform due diligence and bitcoin exchanges to intensify their user verification procedures. Meanwhile, small-sum bitcoin remittances were legalized back in July as part of the amended Foreign Exchange Transaction law.
The government’s efforts came amid rising bitcoin trading volumes in the country. Bithumb consistently has the highest trading volume of all exchanges globally, according to Coinmarketcap. On August 21, the exchange announced that its daily trading volume reached 2.6 trillion won, approximately US$2.28 billion, which was larger than the trading volume of the Kosdaq market on the previous day.
What do you think of the Korean authorities conducting on-site inspections and offering cybersecurity support to bitcoin exchanges? Let us know in the comments section below.
