According to a report by Reuters, South Korea could make a decision on Thursday over its position on cryptocurrency exchange regulation.
Answering to a parliament member at the national policy committee meeting today, Choi Jong-ku, head of South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, explained how such regulation may play out, reportedly saying:
“(The government) is considering both shutting down all local virtual currency exchanges or just the ones who have been violating the law.”
The comment denotes the government is moving to clean out the recent disarray around cryptocurrency regulation in South Korea, mostly created by conflicting comments issued by different government bodies.
As it was reported before, on Jan. 11, the South Korean Ministry of Justice reportedly acknowledged a plan to close down all cryptocurrency exchanges. Yet soon the South Korea’s Presidential Office commented that such a policy has not been finished. As reported by CoinDesk previously, the unclear situation has also caused a backlash from local residents and politicians.
In accordance with the report, Hong Nam-ki, minister of the office for government policy coordination, said while government officials still hold different opinions over the problem, the meeting today expects to reach a solution on a cryptocurrency exchange regulation.
Everywhere in the country today, South Korea’s central bank made a comment that may signalize a different approach on how the country may use cryptocurrency and its basic technology.
In accordance with Reuters, Lee Ju-yeol, governor of Bank of Korea said in a news conference on Thursday that while cryptocurrency so far is not a legal currency, the bank has been involved in researching a central bank-issued cryptocurrency.
“We have started looking at virtual currency from a long-term standpoint, as central banks could start issuing digital currencies in the future. This sort of research has begun at the Bank of International Settlements and we are part of that research,” he said.
