However, South Korea has signaled it may start levying taxes on cryptocurrency transactions. Currently, trading virtual currencies in the country incurs only commission fees. But on October 13, the chief of the country’s National Tax Agency, Han Seung-hee, told lawmakers that the group is mulling imposing a value-added tax, a capital gains tax, or both on trades, with the help of financial authorities.

An official decision is expected within the first quarter of 2018. If the plan gets implemented, South Korea will become one of the few countries to tax cryptocurrency-cash exchanges. Germany and Singapore levy taxes on virtual-currency trading depending on factors such as the amount of gain and the length of the holding period, but other countries—among them Australia and Japan—recently eliminated their fees.

Retail investors aren’t the only South Koreans excited about cryptocurrencies; some of the country’s biggest corporations are pouring money into virtual-currency businesses and related technologies. Nexon, one of South Korea’s biggest video-game developers, is the leading shareholder in Korbit, the country’s No. 3 cryptocurrency exchange. Dunamu, an affiliate of Kakao, a leading South Korean Internet services company, recently launched a cryptocurrency exchange called Upbit. And the DB Group, another South Korean conglomerate, partnered with the local firm Sentbe in August to offer remittance payments in Bitcoin.

Even Samsung, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, is getting involved in the blockchain technology that makes cryptocurrency possible. In May, the company’s IT solutions unit, Samsung SDS, announced a pilot project that will use this system of widely distributed, frequently updated cryptographic ledgers to track shipping imports, exports, and the location of cargo shipments in real time. That month, the Samsung affiliate also joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, an industry group that is developing business-grade software based on blockchain. “Samsung SDS doesn’t have plans to start up a digital coin business, but the company does intend to develop [new] business models using blockchain technologies,” said spokesman Jo Joo-hong to MIT Technology Review.

South Korea’s fervor for cryptocurrency is notable given that the country has an urgent reason to be skeptical: cyberattacks from North Korea. Hackers probably hailing from North Korea targeted officials at four South Korean Bitcoin exchanges in July and August, according to South Korea’s National Police Agency. The “spear-phishing” plots involved sending messages from stolen e-mail addresses and attaching malicious code that was identical to viruses previously proved to be of North Korean origin. Experts such as the American cybersecurity firm FireEye have theorized that the hackers were responding to increased economic sanctions on North Korea and were interested in Bitcoin because of its relative anonymity, since people can buy and use the currency without revealing their true identities.

“The rampant use of digital currency offers both opportunities and risks,” says Kim Kyung-soo, head of the Ethereum research center in South Korea. “Risk takers are attempting to make profits by delving into these high-volatility assets. But digital currencies could also be used as seed money to lift the next wave of technology developments.”