Topic: [2017-09-28South Korea bans raising money through initial coin offerings reuters (Read 267 times)

i wouldn't necessarily say that. let's give it a little time to see what kind of regulations are put forth. it's the same as china---regulators saw so much money pouring into unregulated markets (where many scams are proliferating). it seems that they are merely placing restrictions on korean institutions, saying that they can't participate in ICOs. i bet it was a result of the kakao/upbit deal, which could bring an explosion of new korean investment into altcoins and ICO tokens.

regulators don't know how to handle it. i hope that they will land on the side of reason, seeing that prohibitions will just drive domestic investment underground and overseas. that will only deprive the state of tax revenues and give them less oversight of AML issues and capital outflows.

This is ridiculous.. Despite the fact that Korea has a tremendous amount of virtual currency trading,this policy is obviously going backwards.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-bitcoin/south-korea-bans-raising-money-through-initial-coin-offerings-idUSKCN1C408N?il=0

#TECHNOLOGY NEWSSEPTEMBER 28, 2017 / 11:46 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
South Korea bans raising money through initial coin offerings
Cynthia Kim
2 MIN READ
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s financial regulator on Friday said it will ban raising money through all forms of virtual currencies, a move that follows similar restrictions in China on initial coin offerings.

The Financial Services Commission said all kinds of initial coin offerings (ICO) will be banned as trading of virtual currencies needs to be tightly controlled and monitored.

“Raising funds through ICOs seem to be on the rise globally, and our assessment is that ICOs are increasing in South Korea as well,” the regulator said in a statement after a meeting with the finance ministry, the Bank of Korea and the National Tax Service.

“Stern penalties” will be issued on financial institutions and any parties involved in issuing of ICOs, the statement added, without elaborating further on the details of those penalties.

The decision to ban ICOs as a fundraising tool was made as the government sees such issues as increasing the risk of financial scams. The decision tracks similar announcements in the U.S. and China where increasing trading volumes of cryptocurrencies are sparking concerns.

It added Friday’s announcement doesn’t mean the government has implicitly accepted trading of virtual currencies as part of its financial system, and will continue to monitor markets to see additional regulations are needed.