Bloomberg: South Korea attempts to stem large speculative capital flows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF

BlockBeats News, January 12, according to Bloomberg, South Korea is trying to prevent large amounts of speculative funds from flowing into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. The country’s securities regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said on Thursday that brokering such ETFs may violate the government’s regulations on virtual assets. and its current position on capital markets law. The announcement caused confusion among investors and sent related stocks plunging in early trading Friday, with Wizit Co.'s shares plunging as much as 13% at one point. The move is the first cautious response from a major regulator after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this week approved about a dozen ETFs that hold Bitcoin directly. South Korea is known for its enthusiasm for crypto assets, passing a digital assets bill last year to strengthen investor protection. Consumer protection has come into sharper focus after the collapse of the coin founded by Do Kwon, which resulted in more than $40 billion in losses. The FSC said it plans to further review digital asset rules as regulations change overseas.