Confidence returns to the market as the Korean government makes its plans more clear.

Markets tend to struggle when there is a lack of clarity from governments. In this case, the lack of clarity was coming from South Korea - first declaring a ban on exchanges, then backpedalling, then leaving things open to interpretation, and now finally, making a clear statement.

Setting a deadline of January 30 for the halt of anonymous trading whilst also declaring banks permitted to enable cryptocurrency transactions for real-name users, the news seems to have restored some confidence among buyers. This will enable the vast majority of traders to continue on with their cryptocurrency trading as usual, while attempting to shut down money-laundering and criminal activity surrounding the usage of cryptocurrency in Korea.

This also enables the Korean government to reduce the possibility of juveniles trading on the market - a significant concern for the country, where cryptocurrency is growing rapidly in popularity among youth. It will additionally exclude any non-Korean citizens from trading on Korean exchanges, thus significantly reducing the opportunity for money-laundering in the country.

Essentially, what will happen is that users will need to have matching real-name identities with their banks and their exchanges in order to be permitted to trade.

What the Korean government may be over-looking in its desperation to regulate this market, is the fact that decentralised exchanges are already up-and-running. These will not have a central point of access and will therefore be accessible anywhere one has access to the internet. Along with atomic-swap capabilities of many coins, including Bitcoin, these recent attempts at regulation only serve to make Korea appear to be proactive. It serves to give Korea a strong image of control and authority over this burgeoning market.

...And maybe that's all they want.

It should be noted that these price increases may only last for a day or two. Bitcoin futures expire on the CME on Friday, so this may well be a pump happening in anticipation of asset liquidation before contracts expire, in order for short-sellers to reap wins on contracts and then buy Bitcoin at a discount.

source:

https://qz.com/1186324/south-korea-is-making-real-name-cryptocurrency-trading-mandatory-by-january-30/

https://www.coindesk.com/south-korea-announces-deadline-for-halt-of-anonymous-crypto-trading/

image source:

https://dcebrief.com/bitcoin-shatters-record-price-soars-past-1400/