Upon the shifting sands of South Korea’s cryptocurrency regulations, digital asset exchanges have begun halting trading on certain coins deemed to be too high-risk to investors.
According to a report by local news outlet Arirang on Wednesday, 11 out of 20 exchanges that have received a Security Management System certificate have either stopped trading coins or issued warnings.
Some of those crypto exchanges outlined in the report include Upbit which has delisted Paycoin, Maro, Observer, Solve.Care and Quiztok. Huobi Korea has halted trading of Huobi token while Coinbit has stopped the trading of eight cryptos and put 28 coins on a warning list, per the report.
The certificate, issued by the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), is a requirement for Virtual Asset Service Providers to operate within the country. It also coincides with the updated regulatory framework of South Korea’s updated Financial Transactions Reports Act where all crypto exchanges must register with the country’s regulators by Sept. 24, 2021.
The development marks yet another case in which South Korea’s regulators are applying greater pressure on the domestic cryptocurrency industry. On Sunday, the Korea Times reported banks would have to begin denying services to clients that failed to comply with identity checks or those that failed to report suspicious activity.
Additionally, the country’s financial regulators have begun a process to impose fines of 100 million won (US$89,519) on exchange employees caught trading on their own platforms.
Source: Coindesk
