South Korea clamps down on cryptocurrencies

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - South Korea held an emergency meeting of senior government officials on Wednesday to contain a national cryptocurrency thirst that has seen the country develop some of the largest exchanges in the world.

Around a million South Koreans are believed to own at least some of the leading cryptocurrency, bitcoin, and officials are concerned many could be exploited as things stand.

Part of the agenda includes forming a task force to consider imposing taxes on cryptocurrency gains, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Wednesday's gathering featured various government ministries along with watchdogs and the National Tax Service.

Other measures mentioned at the meeting were banning both local financial institutions and minors from dealing in virtual currencies.

The government is also set to force currency exchanges to help prevent crimes from hacking to money laundering.

Just a day earlier, the Korea Communications Commission fined an operator of the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange for the first time, for failing to protect private data.

In a further blow to the trend, some major banks in the South are looking to shut down accounts set up for digital currency exchanges.