[2021-09-19] South Korea’s crypto exchanges will shut down en masse next week

[Woodie]

The majority of South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges will likely shut down by next Friday, as operators race to meet stringent new rules from the country’s financial watchdog.

By Sept. 24, all exchanges operating in South Korea must obtain licenses from financial and Internet regulators. As of Monday, only 28 exchanges—out of the 63 operating in-country—had received certification from the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), the first step to obtaining final approval from the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The remaining 35 exchanges are unlikely to be able to comply given the looming deadline, says the FSC.

The crypto industry worldwide has for many years “lobbied to have clear regulatory frameworks,” says Henri Arslanian, partner and crypto leader at consultancy PwC based in Hong Kong. Many crypto leaders welcome straightforward rules because “operating in gray areas makes running the business challenging, from fundraising to opening bank accounts,” Arslanian notes. “It’s not in the best interest of the public, either.”

Still, the rapid-fire closure of over half of South Korea’s crypto exchanges could pave an easy path for crypto monopolies to emerge, which some say could harm ordinary investors.

read more https://fortune.com/2021/09/17/south-korea-crypto-exchange-shut-down-bitcoin-regulation/

[SFR10]

As of Monday, only 28 exchanges—out of the 63 operating in-country—had received certification from the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA),

Based on the above day of the week and the publication date of that article, I believe that the writer was referring to last week... In other words, those numbers might no longer be accurate.

Still, the rapid-fire closure of over half of South Korea’s crypto exchanges could pave an easy path for crypto monopolies to emerge, which some say could harm ordinary investors.

They're just exaggerating that part ^{[as some have stated on the latter part of that article]}; even if they were left with half of the exchanges that had KISA certificates, I still wouldn't see it as a smooth route to exchange monopolies in Korea ^{[regardless of the amount that would get the final approval from FSC]}.
^{- Those supplies won't automatically end up with the remaining exchanges.}
Does anybody know a website that lists the other 35 exchanges that are still without a KISA certificate?
^{- I googled but had no luck.}

[buwaytress]

Race? They had time since 2019, and then a grace period of a year or so to get in line with measures that didn't seem too difficult to meet -- 28 exchanges made it before the deadline + grace period, I don't know, it sounds like healthy enough competition to me. If you couldn't make the cut, you probably had a poorly managed operation anyway. Doubt any crypto investor/trader will shed tears for those that won't be around.

[bryant.coleman]

I don't want to be too negative. Perhaps this move will have some benefits as well. At least such regulations will prevent occurrences similar to what happened in South Africa recently, where the Africrypt exchange closed down all of a sudden, taking away hundreds of millions of USD worth of funds. Also, I have a feeling that there are too many exchanges catering to a limited set of users. What is the point in having more than five dozen exchanges in a small country like South Korea, where the total population is just 52 million?

[sikke]

The majority of South Korea’s cryptocurrency exchanges will likely shut down by next Friday, as operators race to meet stringent new rules from the country’s financial watchdog.

By Sept. 24, all exchanges operating in South Korea must obtain licenses from financial and Internet regulators. As of Monday, only 28 exchanges—out of the 63 operating in-country—had received certification from the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), the first step to obtaining final approval from the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The remaining 35 exchanges are unlikely to be able to comply given the looming deadline, says the FSC.

The crypto industry worldwide has for many years “lobbied to have clear regulatory frameworks,” says Henri Arslanian, partner and crypto leader at consultancy PwC based in Hong Kong. Many crypto leaders welcome straightforward rules because “operating in gray areas makes running the business challenging, from fundraising to opening bank accounts,” Arslanian notes. “It’s not in the best interest of the public, either.”

Still, the rapid-fire closure of over half of South Korea’s crypto exchanges could pave an easy path for crypto monopolies to emerge, which some say could harm ordinary investors.

read more https://fortune.com/2021/09/17/south-korea-crypto-exchange-shut-down-bitcoin-regulation/

Christ.

This is just another instance of why centralized exchanges will struggle to survive in the upcoming years.

Expect a ton of regulatory crackdowns pretty much from anywhere in the world. You are not going to see authorities be lenient on cryptos, especially after seeing the current bull run and how much they can collect in tax revenue. Fortunately, this won't affect the adoption of BTC on a grassroots level by any means.