The South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon has emphasized that closing down cryptocurrency exchanges is not a serious consideration, Bitcoin.news reported.
“There has been a harsh criticism of the government for the confusion between the ministries around the virtual currency regulation direction,” Lee said in response to questions from opposition parties on Tuesday.
“The closing of [cryptocurrency] exchanges is not a serious consideration now. It is one of the many possibilities,” he said.
Lee explained that closing down crypto exchanges “will take a lot of discussion, debate, and time,” adding that “I am thinking about how it will affect the market.”
The remarks come in response to a statement made by the justice minister at a press conference on January 11, when he said, “We are preparing a bill to ban virtual currency exchanges…We also aim to close exchanges.”