South Korea’s plan to ban virtual coin trading rattles market

Trading halt soon: People walk past an electric board showing exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies at Bithumb cryptocurrencies exchange in Seoul. The South Korean government is preparing a bill to ban trading of the virtual currency on domestic exchanges. — Reuters

SEOUL: The South Korean government said it plans to ban cryptocurrency trading, sending bitcoin prices plummeting and throwing the virtual coin market into turmoil as the nation’s police and tax authorities raided local exchanges on alleged tax evasion.

The clampdown in South Korea, a crucial source of global demand for cryptocurrency, came as policymaker around the world struggled to regulate an asset whose value has skyrocketed over the last year.