An article today published by CNBC reports that South Korean Justice minister, Park Sang-ki made an announcement stating that:
"There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges,"
Combined with Coin Market Cap's decision earlier in the week to remove the weighting from Korean exchanges in its aggregate price in USD of a token or coin, this has led to one of the biggest dips the Cryptocurrency market has seen in the last six months.
At one stage, immediately following the story breaking, Bitcoin was trading at just above $10,000 USD. It has since recovered to $12,500 USD.
Let's ignore the fud, and waves of sell orders, and examine some facts about South Korea, as a nation.
Korea is a technology superhub
Samsung, a massive, massive corporation, not just the makers of your phone, TV, washing machine or other digital gadget, is responsible for about 20% of the entire nation's gross domestic product.
In addition to this, Korea is a nation in which Starcraft is the national sport, and the adoption of new technology by its citizenry is high. Between R&D, manufacturing, and all the other related industries, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain is on the roadmap for Korea.
In an article published in December 2017, on Fortune; there was talk of the Korean finance minister stating that trading would be regulated. This 'bill' to ban exchanges doesn't mean it will be illegal to meet down at the local pub, and trade cash for crypto, like everyone did when localbitcoins was the only way to get coin.
Don't lose your head in the FUD
While Korea makes up for a remarkable amount of volume and the interest in crypto currencies, you need to remember that cryptocurrency is decentralised. It doesn't have a central authority to govern the way it works, or who trades in. Yes, this will cause a run on the exchanges; which is the importance of having your funds in your own wallet, but its also a great time to get started in Crypto.
This is not the first time a dip like this has occured, and it won't be the last
Those with the strongest hands will prevail. If you've been waiting to buy, now is the time. Just remember, your Steem power is locked away and safe. Think about the prices three months from now, not today.
Don't panic. I'm not :)