South Korean Officials Not Allowed to Hold or Trade in Digital Currencies

More and more legislation and scrutiny seems to be associated to the cryptocurrency market each day. South Korea is one of the countries which has been quite vocal against cryptocurrencies and which has shown a lot of intentions to regulate the market. Now, a new move has been made on that direction and South Korean officials are banned from holding or trading cryptocurrencies.

Authorities officially ban officials from access to cryptocurrencies

Local media reported that the government of South Korea imposed an official ban on cryptocurrency ownership and trading by government officials. Local media claimed that the ban applies to all officials, even those who have no link to the South Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance, or the Financial Services Commission.

These officials will no longer be able to hold or trade cryptocurrencies, of course including bitcoin. All cryptocurrencies are listed here and this means that no government official will be able to have a link with digital currencies, regardless of their type. The main purpose of this decision is to make sure that government officials will not find themselves in a conflict of interest when it comes to regulating the local market.

Of course, there is a reason to why authorities have made this decision now. Apparently, it was found that some officials from the Financial Services Commission have previously engaged in insider trading. The wrongdoing happened before the Minister of Justice of the country stated that the government will ban cryptocurrency trading. The announcement was made in 2017.

Apparently, the state officials started selling cryptocurrencies before the announcement was made. Meanwhile, a ban has not been imposed and the Minister of Justice has adopted a more neutral stance on how the state will regulate cryptocurrencies.