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Some things are harsh than others. If you are a foreigner living in South Korea, things are hard for you. It is not going to be easy to deposit on a cryptocurrency exchange, which is at least if you are using local currency. Korbit, a digital currency exchange platform has halted all deposits by foreigners. Although this is happening now, Korbit had announced over a month ago. That time, the exchange platform warned that it was going to close all accounts owned by foreigners.
Instead, they would remain with accounts that are attached to the users’ identities, which by what regulators asked exchange platforms recently. Remember that two weeks ago, the South Korean government issued a ban warning. Although the government later made another announcement saying it has stopped, it said it is temporal. The initial report was clear. It said that the government was going to shut down the cryptocurrency trade throughout the country. This announcement made several digital coins to shrink back. The bitcoin went as deep as $9, 199, the lowest since November 2017. Other altcoins suffered price loses as well.
When Korbit halted foreigners from depositing into their accounts, the company gave the treason. One of the reasons was that it is to abide by what local and international regulators are asking. The other reason relates to money laundering allegations. The company said that many accounts are opened with an evil motive. Most importantly, this is what the government is trying to curb.
In fact, foreigners living or who live elsewhere but operate a digital currency account will not deposit funds anyway, which means the only thing a foreigner can do with his/her mind in S. Korea is to withdraw for now. On their website, Korbit posted, "If you are not a Korean citizen, the KRW deposit to the private virtual currency exchange will be stopped. Above all, this will happen when you switch to the new KRW deposit method in January, which applies to both domestic residents and non-residents."
The firm went further to say that when the new system is implemented, there will be more. For instance, the company said that foreigners would not be able to deposit Korean won on any domestic exchange. These new regulations are supposed to start working on January 20, 2018, which is according to an early announcement made by the state. Local financial authorities warned last week that cryptocurrency exchanges would face fines. If they want to do the business, they must follow instructions.
