Earlier this week, Korean regulators announced a ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs). While some reports indicated the prohibition was a blanket ban — such as the one enacted by China — residents still appear to be able to contribute to foreign ICOs and trade for those tokens on exchanges. Consequently, news of the ban only had a minor effect on the markets, and they quickly recovered from that dip.
Hastening the recovery was an announcement by Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) that 11 Japanese bitcoin exchanges — including bitFlyer, one of the highest-volume bitcoin exchanges — had received licensure to continue to operate within the country. Japan has positioned itself as a central hub within the Asian cryptocurrency ecosystem, and this announcement reaffirms that the country will play a prominent role moving forward.
Source: https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/ethereum-bitcoin-prices-end-week-high-note/