As ever in the world of crypto, the slightest ripple of information can be taken out of context, and that appears to be the case here.
Reuters reported comments from Korean Justice Minister Park Sang-ki who said claimed his ministry “is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges” following “enough discussion” with a range of government agencies, including the finance ministry.
As Reuters itself points out, any draft legislation would require the approval of parliament which could takes months, if not years. Even if that were to happen, the timing seems off with local elections upcoming this year and bitcoin, ethereum and other coins hugely popular among young people in Korea.
Looking back just weeks, today’s quotes also fly in the face of previous comments from the government’s financial regulators, which had said that it plans to prevent minors, foreigners and institutions from owning and trading cryptocurrency.
Nonetheless, with Korea the world’s largest trader of bitcoin on a country basis, the scare was enough to spread fear and move the market. The price of bitcoin lowered to $13,126, according to Coindesk, that’s the lowest since December 30. The price later rebounded as context was added to the minister’s comments.