South Korea has given the cryptocurrency market a week to cease anonymous dealings.
The country’s watchdog Financial Services Commission (FSU) will require anybody trading cyptocurrency to use real name accounts from January 30 onwards. As a further measure, they will only be able to fund their trading accounts from bank accounts in their own name.
Speculation?
These layers of ‘know your customer’ or ‘KYC’ regulations, which are standard anti-money laundering rules for most securities in most developed countries, have been brought in as South Korea attempts to curb unrestrained speculation.
South Korea has reportedly accounted for as much as 20% of all cryptocurrency transaction during recent months as the price soared, and the regulatory clampdown has seen the FSC work with domestic banking institutions.
On Tuesday, the price of Bitcoin fell another US$300 or 3% to trade down at US$10,440. Elsewhere, the Ethereum cryptocurrency was also trading 3% lower changing hand at US$970.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s XRP token shed 9% to trade at US$1.27.