Bitcoin Plunges as South Korea Tightens Restrictions

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Bitcoin has dropped to below $11,000 in value, an 11.7 percent drop during the trading day as of Tuesday, Jan. 23, at 6 a.m. ET. Fears that non-Korean traders may be locked out of South Korean exchanges by the end of the month is said to be driving the sell-off.

Bitcoin's dollar value has dropped down to $10,279 as of this writing, according to Coin Market Cap. That's a sharp decline of 11.7 percent across the day, a trend that has carried on since the cryptocurrency started off at $11,682 by the opening hour.

The currency dipped as low as $10,050 at one point, according to CNBC. Pressure to sell is attributed to emerging details on new regulatory measures for cryptocurrency trading in South Korea, which was one of the more premium markets for bitcoin.

The South Korean government looks to be tightening their grip on cryptocurrency speculation, as well as establishing new taxation measures for exchanges. The Seoul government announced on Monday, Jan. 22, that they are moving to collect up to 24.2 percent in corporate and income taxes from cryptocurrency exchanges this year, according to Yonhap News.

With South Korea being home to one of the world's largest exchanges, the enforcement of the corporate tax laws will hit them hard. Bithumb, one of the biggest in the country, is expected to pay 60 billion Won or about $55.8 million USD in corporate and local income taxes.

The South Korean government is also cracking down on anonymous cryptocurrency trading in the country, according to the Independent. Local banks will be required to set up a real-name system for traders dealing in bitcoin, ethereum, ripple and other crypto assets, in a move to make transactions traceable.

New measures will also be put in place next week that will block foreigners living outside the country from doing cryptocurrency transactions from local exchanges if they do not have a local bank account. Minors younger than 19 years old will be barred from crypto trading, as well.