South Korea’s chief of the Financial Services Commission has said Seoul is considering shutting down domestic virtual currency exchanges, Reuters reported.
“The government is considering both shutting down all local virtual currency exchanges or just the ones who have been violating the law,” Choi JongKu told the parliament.
Hong Nam-ki, minister of the office for government policy coordination, 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.
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.”
South Korea’s justice minister said last week the ministry was preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading, which sent Bitcoin (Bitcoin) prices sharply lower and threw the market into turmoil.
The reports on cryptocurrency regulation sparked strong reaction from many South Koreans, thousands of whom signed a petition on the website of the presidential Blue House to stop a ban on cryptocurrency trading.