South Korea Eyes Measures to Curtail Cryptocurrency Frenzy

Investing.com - South Korea's government said on Wednesday that it is planning to implement new regulations to curtail speculation on cryptocurrencies.The proposed measures range from levying capital-gain taxes on trading cryptocurrencies, to restricting financial firms from holding, acquiring and investing in them.Exchanges that want to operate business would need to meet certain conditions including depositing customer funds separately and disclosing bid-ask price and trading volumes.No timeline has been set for when the measures would be implemented.Monthly cryptocurrency trading volume on South Korea’s largest exchange Bithumb surged to 56 trillion won or $51 billion in November from 305 billion won in January, according to the exchange, which has around 1.5 million users. At one point last week, the country accounted for as much as a quarter of global bitcoin trading activity, outstripping that of the U.S., according to Coinhills, a data firm that tracks digital currencies.