//

Seoul by twilight. Photo credit: aomami / 123RF Stock Photo.

The news (extracted from Reuters):

• South Korea’s Financial Services Commission announced today it will ban raising money through all forms of cryptocurrencies – what’s known as ICO or initial coin offering.
• The commission will hit any firm or party involved in issuing of ICOs with “stern penalties,” although details are not available.
• The regulator arrived at this decision after meeting with the finance ministry, the Bank of Korea, and the National Tax Service.

Why it matters:

• South Korea is the second country to outright ban ICOs after China, which cracked down on token sales earlier this month.
• ICOs are proving very profitable for companies, with nearly US$2 billion raised through token sales in 2017 so far.
• Regulators worldwide are still unsure how to deal with token sales. Singapore’s MAS is currently considering the issue, while the SEC in the US is putting together a “cyber unit” that will look into suspicious token sales, among other matters.

This post Brief: South Korea will ban ICOs too appeared first on Tech in Asia.

from Startups – Tech in Asia http://ift.tt/2ybFJBa