E-Cigarette Study

[Anchor Lead]

The police are cracking down on margin trading of cryptocurrencies, calling it gambling. However, those involved in the virtual currency business say the police are standing in the way of technological trends. The recent decision has again sparked controversies surrounding cryptocurrency regulations.

[Pkg]

Coinone. Korea's third largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trade volume. Up to 300 billion won's worth of Bitcoins and Irithiums are traded here per day. It's also possible to conduct margin trading here. Margin trading refers to the practice of using borrowed funds to trade financial assets based on the prediction of market value up to one week later. But the police determined this service is gambling. Authorities decided to send Coinone's CEO, director, and 20 of its top investors to the prosecution to be indicted. That decision was made as margin trading involves betting money on assets with uncertain future values, yet it is not regulated by financial authorities. However, only the act of margin trading is determined to be illegal, as such the intention is not to restrict cryptocurrency trading itself. Coinone and other block chain businesses are strongly protesting the police's decision. They claim that outdated laws and institutions are not catching up with the rapidly advancing block chain services. There are no special restrictions on cryptocurrency margin trading in other countries. Even in local stock markets, it is possible to conduct short stock buying or short sale similar to margin trading. Now the ball is in the prosecution's court. Controversy is likely to mount over setting up systems that promote the block chain technology while preventing speculation.