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As Part of Larger Trends, South Korean Exchange Prixbit Closes

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Prixbit, a cryptocurrency exchange based in South Korea, has officially shut down. The closure was shared in a note published on its website.

The exchange assured users of a safe transition process for their funds, saying it would return deposits and holdings to customers who register for refunds.

As for specific reasons why the exchange is terminating its services, the note points to “negative internal and external influences.” However, a report from BusinessKorea pointed to more specific reasons.

“Prixbit, a cryptocurrency exchange which closed its operations as of Aug. 9, has failed to overcome its financial difficulties and suspended its cryptocurrency trading services,” according to the report. “Many investors criticized the shutdown of the exchange as they were worried about withdrawing their investments.”

Other significant factors may have been a larger issue with trading volumes in the country, where regulators are working to take a more direct approach to cryptocurrency exchanges.

“A low transaction volume is another reason Korean blockchain startups avoid listing on domestic exchanges,” per BusinessKorea. “Only five or six South Korean exchanges rank among the top 100 in the world in terms of transaction volume. It is not exaggeration to say that 97 percent of domestic exchanges are in danger of going bankrupt due to their low volume of transactions.”

On September 18, 2019, the Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange CGEX, which is operated by South Korea’s Coinone, will also shut down.

Another potential stressor affecting cryptocurrency businesses in South Korea is rampant cyber attacks targeted at them by North Korea.

The post As Part of Larger Trends, South Korean Exchange Prixbit Closes appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Crypto Exchange CGEX Will Shut Down in September

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CGEX, the Malta-based crypto exchange opened by South Korean Coinone, will shutter its services next month. The exchange posted a termination notice late last week, saying that it would terminate all of its services on September 18, 2019. 

Coinone established CGEX in October 2018, as a crypto-to-crypto exchange that connects and shares the order book with its Indonesian and South Korean platforms. 

For many, this shutdown has been a long time coming. Two months earlier, the exchange abruptly suspended trading activities. While this occurrence isn’t entirely new, eyebrows were raised when it recommended that users should withdraw their holdings to avoid any potential losses. 

The previous suspension was temporary, but this new announcement seems to be the end of CGEX. The exchange has warned its customers to get their affairs in order before the closure. 

Once it’s done, customers won’t be able to log in, and both withdrawals and deposits will be unavailable. The exchange’s records will also be destroyed, although some will be retained due to legal requirements.

The post Crypto Exchange CGEX Will Shut Down in September appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

South Korea Will Take a Direct Approach to Crypto Exchange Regulations

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On August 6, 2019, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Financial Services Commission in South Korea revealed plans to institute direct regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges, local news source Business Korea reports. Up until now, FIU has often regulated exchanges indirectly through their banks.

Quoting an official with the FIU, Business Korea reported that the South Korean government will begin to issue licenses to cryptocurrency exchanges, in line with recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-money laundering watchdog.  

“If an amendment to the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information, which reflects the FATF’s international standards for cryptocurrencies, passes the National Assembly, it will be possible to prevent money laundering through cryptocurrencies,” Lee Tae-hoon, the head of administration and planning at the FIU, said.

He added that this approach could lead to effective crypto oversight, although it would need the buy-in of lawmakers.

Crypto compliance solutions provider Argos commented in a blog post that this regulation could involve the enforcement of the “travel rule,” a rule which would obligate cryptocurrency exchanges to share information regarding the parties in a transaction. Given that exchanges don’t always collect such information, Argos noted that it could become problematic. 

A Growing Regulatory Trend

South Korea is not the only Asian country determined to hold its crypto sector on a tight leash. Japan could be changing its laws soon due to the incessant security breaches on its exchanges.

In July 2019, popular Japanese exchange Bitpoint lost around $32 million (3.5 billion yen) to hackers. The exchange noticed unauthorized access in its hot wallets, which led to the theft of a wide range of digital assets, including bitcoin and XRP.

Bitpoint eventually rallied from the hack and published its timetable for resuming services for users shortly afterward.

Regulators in Japan have been both passive and active when it comes to the crypto sector.

Japanese exchanges have been allowed to self regulate in the past, thanks to the activities of the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA), a body made up of exchanges that ensures the institution of industry-wide anti-money laundering and security standards. The government has taken a more active regulatory role in recent times. 

In April 2019, Nikkei Asia Review reported that Japan’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) was cracking down on exchanges that offered anonymous transactions and had subpar identity verification infrastructure.

Still, the country hasn’t been able to stem the flow of hacks. South Korea simply doesn’t want to take the same chance with exchanges.

The post South Korea Will Take a Direct Approach to Crypto Exchange Regulations appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

PR: bitHolla Releases Open Exchange Kit HollaExShell

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PR: bitHolla Releases Open Exchange Kit HollaExShell

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release.

Seoul, South Korea – July 22, 2019 – bitHolla, the company that builds customized cryptocurrency trading software is announcing the launch of its new product HollaExShell, an open exchange software package, giving anyone the ability to launch a full fledged crypto exchange from a command-line interface. HollaEx packages provided by bitHolla allow crypto enthusiasts and business operators to create a trading venue website in less than a few minutes without the need for setting up complicated server infrastructure or coding complicated logic for trade matching engines.

“This package is years in the making, and we are absolutely curious to finally see people create more open markets globally” says bitHolla co-founder Alireza Beikverdi. bitHolla’s stated goal is to create more markets and make a user-friendly way to launch them in the hope of driving mainstream adoption of digital assets. Through its straightforward configuration and deployment procedures, the launching process has now been streamlined and standardized.

bitHolla has already been providing exchange solutions to its clients globally with its powerful system and trading engine. Packaging all the complexity of its services into a single standalone customizable solution took months of testing in the field and now can deliver what it claims to be the most affordable and streamlined exchange software out there. The package will be directly competing with established white-label exchange providers. ”Most white-label exchange providers are a nightmare to deal with,” explains Mr. Beikverdi, ”they’re made for large institutions, that have long drawn out processes before anything is launched, which adds up, becoming extremely over priced from the region of at least $100,000s to $500,000s and beyond. Additionally the current solutions in the market are very restricted in what can be customized. Additional features and modifications are not easily possible and requires significant cost and justification for the solution providers. What about business savvy people that want to partake in the exchange business that don’t have a large capital to sink and a team of crypto developers? We want to make it ridiculously obtainable for all enthusiasts to be able to open an exchange anywhere in the world with as little as $50,000.”

With the recent rise in Bitcoin price, there are more players trying to enter the market, as a result exchange business is a very lucrative business model and is essentially the first infrastructure required for serious players who want to get their feet into the game. Whether it is a hot cryptocurrency exchange, trading different digital tokens or an old school trading firm, they can all benefit from this solution. There are currently estimated to be more than 200 crypto exchanges only in South Korea alone. In a global scale, the demand is even larger.

HollaExShell is the 3rd product by bitHolla, a South Korean-based trading software provider which is also the creator of crypto trading terminal XRayTrade. The company was founded by renowned computer scientist and cryptographer Alireza Beikverdi. bitHolla was accelerated through Chinaccelerator in Shanghai and MOX in Taipei, and have received venture backing from SOSV, the only outside investor in the number one Bitcoin derivatives exchange platform BitMEX. The company is an early player in the crypto field dating back to early 2015.

“We want everyone to have fair access to investment markets no matter where they are, and we want to see HollaExShell help drive that vision,” says Mr. Beikverdi, “our responsibility is to deliver fast and secure exchange technology to anyone and level the financial playing.”

Contact Email Address
[email protected]

Supporting Link
https://bitholla.com/hollaexshelloverview

This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release.

The post PR: bitHolla Releases Open Exchange Kit HollaExShell appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Crypto Crimes Cost South Korea More Than $2 Billion

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South Korea has been hit with approximately $2.28 billion (2.69 trillion won) in financial damage due to cryptocurrency-related crimes within the last two years, according to a report from The Korea Herald.

According to the report, the country’s justice ministry has indicted and detained 132 suspects believed to be involved in one form of crypto scam or another, while another 288 suspects have so far been indicted but are not in detention.

The report also details the activities of smaller crypto exchanges that defied the orders of the justice ministry by operating “beehive” accounts used to circumvent the ban on anonymous crypto trading. Such measures allow the exchanges to manage investors’ funds using their bank accounts.

South Korea adopted a trading system in January 2019 that led to the abolition of anonymous bank accounts as part of the government’s anti-money laundering (AML) policy. However, these opaque accounts have presented exchanges with the ability to circumvent this trading system nonetheless.

The post Crypto Crimes Cost South Korea More Than $2 Billion appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.