The Korean Cryptocurrency exchange site Korbit is halting deposits from foreigners. Korbit stated in an announcement that foreigners virtual account service will no longer accept deposits. The South Korean government passed regulations requiring real name verification. Many experts feel this is a move that is aimed to calm speculations in the cryptocurrency market as well as stop money laundering.
Korbit has only allowed the ban on depositing Korean Won. Foreigners living in South Korea and already using Korbit can still freely exchange and trade. However, Korbit will no longer allow foreigners to deposit Korean Won. This applies to both domestic residents and non-residents.
Korbit was one of the few foreigner friendly sites for buying and exchanging bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Their platform is in English and makes buying and selling bitcoin very easy.
What will this mean for Korbit?
What will this mean for Korbit?For sure the loss of foreigners to the platform will be a big deal. However, it is unknown how much of Korbit’s customer base comes from foreigners. Their whole site being in English shows that it should be a lot.
Korea’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange Korbit late last year was sold to NXC for $80 million (acquiring 65%). NXC must have been banking on South Korea taking the lead in cryptocurrency with China exiting the market last year. However, it looks like Korbit sold at the right time as regulations and laws are starting to come to the forefront.
Korbit was a step ahead of other platforms in regards to connecting users to bank accounts. They had from the beginning a very detailed registration process that required documents to register your bank. They also used many forms of verification security processes for all transactions.
The South Korean government will be setting deadlines in order to make all virtual accounts identified. Accounts that do not have verification could see fines in the future.
