South Korea plans to ban bitcoin

Beijing. January 12. Silkroadnews - South Korea plans to ban bitcoin, the Kazakh Telegraph Agency (KazTAG) reports with reference to the BBC Russian service.
The South Korean authorities are concerned with possible tax evasion and development of crypto-currency gambling. Seoul wants to pass a law to ban crypto-currencies trading, such as bitcoin, on its stock exchanges. The country’s justice minister said virtual currencies cause the government’s “serious concern”, the report says.
As noted, this week several crypto-exchange exchanges in Seoul have been checked on investigation of alleged tax evasion.
On Thursday Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies lost about 10% of their value, while bitcoins fell to $13,000, but it is not evident how closely this could be related to the events in South Korea.
Given the low level of trade and a relatively small number of people who own virtual currencies, sharp fluctuations in the prices of crypto-currencies have become the norm, the experts remind.
Crypto-currencies, such as bitcoin, have significantly increased in value over the past year, which has raised a demand for them. This raised fears saying that some inexperienced investors, trying to “ride the wave”, could become dependent on the market.
“Park Nok-sun, a cryptocurrency analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said the herd behavior in South Korea’s virtual coin market has raised concerns,” Reuters wrote.
In December the government warned it would monitor the exchanges operation more closely, pursuing aim of anonymous trade restrictions among others.
As a part of the campaign to tighten control over the market, the authorities have conducted large-scale inspections at the second largest exchange in Bithumb, the virtual currency exchange in South Korea.