Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum sell-off on Korean concerns may be overblown

South Korea is among one of the world's largest exchanges for cryptocurrency, so a ban on it by the country's officials would lead to an acute shortage of the virtual currency, stopping it from spreading to other markets.

South Korean regulators are suggesting a crackdown on cryptocurrency markets, which sent global digital currency prices into a nosedive. The government officials' plans may be to stop anonymous cryptocurrency trading, instead of trading the virtual currency as a whole.

In this post on Forbes Jan. 11, 2018, Professor of Finance Geoffrey Smith comments:

“The Korean government is requiring Bitcoin traders to do so under their real name, not anonymously,” says Finance Professor Geoffrey Smith, W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “If the purpose of this is to protect their citizens from deception, fraud, or theft, then it is good,” continues Professor Smith.