South Korea Clamps Down on Bitcoin Trading Amid Market Frenzy
28, 2017
South Korea will require people who trade Bitcoin and other virtual currencies to do so under their
real names, the country’s government said on Thursday, as part of efforts to curb speculation.
" the government said in a statement, while adding
that officials would discuss further potential moves to stem speculative trading, such as shutting down some virtual currency exchanges. that Cryptocurrency speculation has been irrationally overheated in Korea,
Kim Jin-hwa, who heads an industry association for businesses working with virtual currencies
and other applications of blockchain technology in South Korea, said most of the country’s virtual currency exchanges could already verify customers’ identities via their cellphones.
Requiring that trading take place using real names brings virtual currencies like Bitcoin more in line with other financial products in South Korea.
Although Bitcoin has shed some of its associations with payment for illegal activity, the real-name policy set out on Thursday could also make it easier for the South Korean government to track transactions
and to tax capital gains from virtual-currency investments.
Mr. Lee, who is no relation to the prime minister, said he believed
that the government had been hoping to cool the speculative fervor merely by discussing tighter regulation — and not by actually implementing too many rules.