On January 11th of 2018, news got out that Korean Ministry of Justice is considering a legislation that would shut down all of Cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. The source of the news is a government official, and the press that received the news (SBS) is credible.
Korean Ministry of Justice views Cryptocurrency trading as illegal. They are comparing Cryptocurrency to pure gambling. They stated, “Cryptocurrency market is nothing more than a scam and a bubble”.
Additionally, the government is especially concerned with coin ICOs, as many scams can arise from them. Ultimately, Ministry of Justice believes that the law would prevent the country's citizens from losing money.
However, majority of the Korean people are angry at the news. Here are some of the arguments.
-Cryptocurrency market is no different from the stock market.
-For many people who are not rich, coin is the only way to make fortune. The government should not block that opportunity. South Korea is not a Communist country.
-So many rich people from one generation above (including current politicians) made fortune made money from real estate and land. There is no difference, and this is just hypocrisy.
-So many people right now have their money invested (it is REALLY booming in South Korea right now). If coin market shuts down in the future, you might as well see tons of “corpses floating in the river” (idiom made because many people commit suicide at the Han river in Seoul after losing money from stock investment).
Source: http://news.nate.com/view/20180110n42279
And here is the link to petition to Korean "Blue House" (where president is). The petition asks not to touch the coin market https://www1.president.go.kr/petitions/76020?navigation=petitions
Do you guys think the government of a democratic country has the right to shut down cryptocurrency market?