· February 20, 2018 · 1:00 am
South Korea Investigating Cryptocurrency Regulator’s Death
A South Korean cryptocurrency regulator in charge of “devising measures against cryptocurrency speculation” was found dead in his home from an apparent heart attack on Monday, semiofficial government news agency . A government spokesperson told they weren’t “sure about the cause of death.”
South Korean police are investigating the death of Jung Ki-joon, 52, who led economic policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination. His job involved developing rules for regulating cryptocurrency in a largely unregulated, fast-growing market the South Korean government seeks to manage.
Ki-joon was in charge of coordinating weekly meetings on regulating cryptocurrency transactions that began in November of last year. Hong Nam-ki, the minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, headed up the meetings.
Yonhap News reports his colleagues said he had been “under heavy stress” since taking the job late last year.
South Korea cryptocurrency regulator found dead at home
— Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank)
South Korean Crypto Surges
South Korea is a hot spot for trading bitcoin. According to the government, the country’s 30 cryptocurrency exchanges saw 87.5 times more income in 2017 than the previous year, . The prices of bitcoin have traded higher in South Korea than in other markets, at times by more than 50 percent.
The South Korean won, its currency, is the fourth most popular currency for exchanging bitcoin after the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen and the euro. Roughly 5 percent of cryptocurrency transactions in 2017 were exchanged for won.
Ki-joon said in a briefing last month that cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, weren’t a legal currency and the government “would strongly respond to excessive cryptocurrency speculation and illegal activity,” according to WSJ.
How will South Korea Regulate?
South Korea continues to grapple with how to regulate the rapidly growing cryptocurrency market. The country’s finance minister, Kim Dong-yeon, said in late January that “there is no intention to ban or suppress cryptocurrency.”
When the country moved to legalize cryptocurrency exchanges early this year, they also on anonymous exchanges, undermining the reason many people use cryptocurrency to protect their privacy.
South Korea is also considering a for exchanges, with Business Korea quoting a government official saying: “We are positively considering the adoption of an exchange approval system as the additional regulation on cryptocurrencies.”
What do you think of South Korea’s role in the bitcoin market? Let us know in the comments below!
Image Courtesy of Pixabay, Twitter, AdobeStock
Published at Tue, 20 Feb 2018 06:00:10 +0000
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‘Only Two Individuals’: CNBC Airs Rare Bitcoin Cash Criticism
CNBC has continued its confused cryptocurrency coverage with the airing of fresh criticism of bitcoin Cash and praise of bitcoin itself.
Najarian Turns Spotlight On Centralized bitcoin Cash
In stark contrast to the network’s recent standard angle, which has seen the overly forward support of the bitcoin Cash altcoin and warnings about bitcoin, a recent edition of its Half Time Report witnessed a conspicuous U-turn.
“The fact that bitcoin Cash is controlled… by two individuals – that is a huge difference from bitcoin,” Investite.com CEO Jon Najarian told presenters Thursday.
Haha bcash looking better every day
— KryptoKnight69 (@ELEProbtc)
CNBC recently hit the headlines when its Fast Money segment began publishing strongly-worded tweets about bitcoin Cash’s superiority, leading to between its staff and the altcoin’s executives.
Major proponent Roger Ver appeared twice on the network to plug bitcoin Cash and warn about bitcoin, and the Fast Money feed to publish material warding off potential bitcoin investors.
Najarian’s riposte thus marks a curious alternative perspective, something which in bitcoin circles.
bitcoin Can Be This And That
In the same segment, ARK Investment Management founder and CEO Catherine Wood also bitcoin Cash as a reasonable alternative to BTC.
“Maybe it will do a hard fork, so it has both the store of value role and the means of exchange role,” she speculated.
The idea of bitcoin being both a currency and exchange instrument is beginning to find favor as a concept in more skeptical non-cryptocurrency circles this month.
Speaking on his own network, Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget the most popular virtual currency could “have a glorious future and change the world” even if prices were to dramatically deteriorate.
Having previously said bitcoin had “no intrinsic value,” Blodget did not discredit the idea that bitcoin could go as low as $100 and fulfil critics’ belief that its price this year has been an archetypal financial bubble.
What do you think about CNBC’s bitcoin approach? Let us know in the comments below!
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