There was another sharp drop in bitcoin yesterday and the cryptocurrency lost more than 15% of its value. The reason is the intention to regulate and even to prohibit the operations with cryptocurrencies by the government of South Korea.
Bitcoin fell as much as 15 percent on Tuesday and touched a four-week low below $12,000 on fears of a regulatory policy in South Korea.
Its finance minister, Kim Dong-yeon, said that prohibiting the cryptocurrency trade remains an option, according to information collected by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Dong-yeon believes that the government should evaluate a set of measures to suppress the madness of the investment in cryptocurrencies "irrational".
These words disturbed investors and the price of the best-known virtual currency plummeted to USD 11,230, according to the Coindesk site and USD 11,191 in the Bitstamp exchange based in Luxembourg.
The latest drop leaves bitcoin more than 40 percent below the historical highs of around USD 20 thousand reached in mid-December, wiping out some 125 billion dollars of its "market capitalization", that is, the price of bitcoin multiplied by the total number of bitcoins that have been "mined" or released to the market.
South Korea is home to some of the largest cryptocurrency markets such as Ethereum or Bitcoin, which is believed to have invested some 2 million South Koreans.
However, the market is unregulated in the country, so the protection of investors is not guaranteed.
The Executive fears, in addition, the outbreak of a bubble and has already activated a series of measures to prevent excessive speculation and money laundering, as the obligation to register transactions in the country with real names or the prohibition of controversial offers initials of cryptocurrency (ICO).
However, the statement also ensures that the Executive "will support and sustain the R & D investment in blockchain as a technology with potential for the future".
Joseph Etim
Joseph Etim (B. Tech) is a blogger, mobile web developer and a tutor with a zeal for positive effects.
Website: Pepetimsblog
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