Bitcoin has shrugged so far
There are really two separate markets for cryptocurrencies -- South Korea and everywhere else.
The mania in South Korea is at a different level. It's enraptured the country and
Now, officials are cracking down. Exchanges Bithumb and Coinone were raided by tax officials over the past two days and South Korean news services SBS says the country's crypto marketplace will be shut down.
The Justice Ministry said that a bill was forthcoming.
"There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges," Justice Minister Park Sang-ki was quoted as saying.
That sounds like terrible news but Bitcoin is down only about 5% to $13,800. So far, the 2018 low has held.
Part of the issue is that the exchanges might have been offering types of margin trading, which the government sees as gambling.
Another reason why is that Bitcoin already trades at a huge premium in South Korea because of the difficulty buying and selling it.
You would think that could be easily arbitraged but evidently not. Even after the raid, Bitcoin is trading at $18,300 at the Bithumb exchange.
