New Rules to Curb Bitcoin Speculation
24 January, 2018
The government will make it mandatory to report any cryptocurrency trade over W10 million a day to financial authorities as it struggles to rein in speculative and illicit trading (US$1=W1,075).
The Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday announced guidelines intended to curb money laundering which will go into effect next week.
Any more than five deals a day by a single person must be reported regardless of the amount, and banks must also report people conducting more than seven cryptocurrency a week or deals that exceed W20 million over that period.
The information will be gathered by the commission's Financial Intelligence Unit, which will notify law enforcement authorities and the National Tax Service if certain transactions appear to involve money laundering.
Cryptocurrency trading must be conducted using real-name bank accounts, and all records of transactions will be available for banks to check. If a cryptocurrency exchange refuses to reveal the identity of an investor, banks have the right to refuse bank accounts to that exchange.
In the case of corporations or groups, banks must notify the FIU of cryptocurrency trades via exchanges regardless of the amount.
The fresh curbs had an immediate effect on the price. On Bithumb on Tuesday, the price of a Bitcoin stood at W12.89 million, down 10.7 percent from Monday.
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