【】TopicsBitcoinCryptocurrencyInnovations

Bitcoin's price is taking a dive again after news broke that South Korea plans to make it harder to trade cryptocurrencies anonymously. 
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The price of Bitcoin dropped to $14,081 Thursday morning, down roughly 16 percent from its $16,895 high on Wednesday. The most popular cryptocurrency has since recovered a bit and is currently trading at $14,686 with a $246 billion market cap.。

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The drop in price, which pulled back most other cryptocurrencies as well, comes after South Korea government's announcement that it will block anonymous trading of cryptocurrencies. 。

Currently, many cryptocurrency exchanges (including South Korean ones like Kucoin) allow trading with little more than your name and an email. KYC (know your customer) info is typically only required for trading larger amounts of money. 。

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South Korea also said it would pass new laws which would allow the country's regulators to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges altogether, if necessary.  。

“The government had warned several times that virtual coins cannot play a role as actual currency and could result in high losses due to excessive volatility,” the country's government said in a statement.。

Cryptocurrency trading is very popular in Korea, and prices are often significantly higher there than in other markets -- an issue that the government also noted in its statement. 。

The news echoes China's move to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges in September. The price of Bitcoin retreated sharply following the news, but it later recovered and actually grew sixfold over the next couple of months. 。

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Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.
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Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH. 。

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