South Korea Thinks Real-Name System is Working – Stepping Up Crypto Monitoring

South Korea Thinks Real-Name System is Working - Stepping Up Crypto Monitoring

South Korea’s top financial regulator recently told 23 other countries’ regulators that the kimchi premium has fizzled since the anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies was banned in the country. Now, the government is introducing a new guideline to prevent local crypto exchanges from buying cryptocurrencies at foreign exchanges.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Kimchi Premium Disappearing

South Korea Thinks Real-Name System is Working - Stepping Up Crypto MonitoringKim Yong-beom, the vice chairman of South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), attended a meeting of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this week.

South Korea Thinks Real-Name System is Working - Stepping Up Crypto MonitoringThe FSB is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. Its members are financial regulators and central bankers from 24 countries as well as the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of International Settlements, the World Bank, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission.

According to the FSC’s statement issued this week, Kim told other world regulators that “The so-called kimchi premium stood at 0.6 percent on June 19,” Yonhap described. In comparison, he noted that “On Jan. 7, a speculative rally in bitcoin in South Korea prompted investors to pay premiums of 46.7 percent compared with international prices.” The vice chairman was further quoted by the news outlet:

Currently, there are small price gaps in cryptocurrency between local and international markets.

At the time of this writing, the price of BTC on Bitfinex is $5,875 while its won price on Bithumb equates to $5,947.

Government Believes Real-Name System is Working

South Korea Thinks Real-Name System is Working - Stepping Up Crypto MonitoringThe South Korean government introduced the real-name system for cryptocurrency accounts at the end of January, effectively “banning the use of anonymous bank accounts in transactions to prevent virtual coins from being used for money laundering and other illegal activities,” the publication described. “The real-name trading system was also part of the government’s latest measures to curb speculative investment into virtual money.”

However, since its introduction, the system has often been criticised because only a few banks decided to offer to convert existing “virtual” crypto trading accounts to real-name ones. The conversion rate is low and the banks that do offer this service choose to only provide it to the country’s largest crypto exchanges: Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit. Other exchanges continue to use corporate accounts, which the regulators say are prone to money laundering.

Nonetheless, the FSC said:

The frenzied buying of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies seen in January this year in South Korea has been fizzling since the government banned anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies.

Stepping Up Monitoring

At a recent P2P loan review meeting with the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency, Kim pointed out that the real-name system “applied only to exchanges that receive virtual accounts at banks,” Hankook Ilbo reported. He added that the majority of crypto exchanges are still using corporate accounts.

Then the FSC said Wednesday that “it will step up monitoring of money transfers between local and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges,” the Korea Times reported, adding:

The new guideline, which aims to prevent local cryptocurrency exchanges buying virtual coins at foreign exchanges to launder money, will come into force on July 10 for one year.

The financial regulator revealed that it plans “to closely keep tabs on bank accounts used by cryptocurrency exchanges for parking their expenses.”

What do you think of the Korean government’s strategies? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Yonhap, and the Korean government.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post South Korea Thinks Real-Name System is Working – Stepping Up Crypto Monitoring appeared first on Bitcoin News.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/2KiZUnj

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

L2 Crypto Project Blast Achieves $660M TVL Amid Mockery for Key Developer Recruitment

Image
Recent data reveals that Blast, the new layer two (L2) blockchain platform, has amassed a significant $660 million in value within its decentralized finance (defi) protocol. Concurrently, while accumulating a variety of crypto assets, the initiative has commenced a search for experienced senior blockchain developers. While Amassing $660M, L2 Blast Project Searches for Developers In recent times, Blast has emerged as a focal point of interest. This project, conceptualized by Pacman , the mind behind the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Blur, has rapidly gained traction. Within a span of less than a week, the platform’s total value locked (TVL) soared to approximately $400 million. Concurrently, Blast faced allegations of resembling a Ponzi scheme. During this period, Paradigm, a principal investor in the project, admitted that the team had overstepped in certain aspects of communication and implementation. Pacman has also countered the Ponzi scheme allegations and further cl
Read more

Harsh Laws Make Bitcoin Holders Consider Renunciation or Dual Citizenship

Image
As digital currencies become a mainstay in society, a great number of governments have enforced strict tax guidelines, severe money transmission rules, and tough regulations. Because of a few nation-states’ harsh rules against cryptos, there are individuals who plan to renounce their citizenship in order to become stateless. Some people will also attempt to get double-citizenship, as both of these acts may help sovereign individuals avoid government intrusion and theft. Also Read: As FATF Regulations Galvanize, Crypto Mixing Applications Are Targeted A Cryptocurrency Advocate’s Quest for Financial Sovereignty May Involve Hard Choices It’s been close to 11 years since the inception of Bitcoin and during the last few years government agencies and law enforcement have been cracking down on digital currency holders. In certain areas around the world, a few countries have extremely difficult crypto laws and stringent capital gains taxes. Countries like the U.S. have imposed strict regul
Read more

2021 Bitcoin Price Predictions: Analysts Forecast BTC Values Will Range Between Zero to $600K

Image
As bitcoin has touched new price highs on Thursday nearing the $50k handle, people have been curious as to where the price will go in the future. Meanwhile, despite the gains so far, a number of luminaries, analysts, executives, and proponents from the crypto space believe the leading crypto asset will reach between $60k to six-digits this year. Mike Novogratz Predicts $100K Bitcoin: ‘Other CFOs and CEOs Are Saying, What Should We Be Doing?’ Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention has gained mass appeal in recent times as the leading digital asset bitcoin ( BTC ) has reached its highest value ever in 2021. On Thursday morning (EST), BTC spiked to an all-time high (ATH) at $48,697 per unit. Earlier in the morning at around 2 a.m., bitcoin was exchanging hands for $44,485 and saw an 8.98% increase since then. At the time of publication, at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on February 11, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping for $47,821 per coin. With BTC so close to the $50k mark, people have been forecasting
Read more