The legislation will prohibit banks from providing settlement services for unidentified digital-currency trades on bitcoin exchanges, the government said on Thursday. That means, for all practical purposes, if Koreans use credit card or net banking to buy cryptocurency at the exchange, they will not be able to do so as there would be no settlement.
Last month, in a separate set of rules issued by the authorities, financial firms were restricted from investing in cryptocurrencies. However, the rules also levied a capital gains tax on any money conventional investors made from trading the digital currency.
Similar to the laws in the US, the proposed law in South Korea would mandate the companies trading bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies to provide the details of their customers whenever asked for. The Know-Your-Customer clause will be to curb the possibilities of money laundering through cryptocurrencies.
In the US, multiple high profile money laundering prosecutions have been initiated against those who have not complied with the norms.