Showing Rebound Trend
The price of Bitcoin, a representative virtual currency (cryptocurrency), was on the rise on the first day of Lunar New Year Holidays. The price moved around 10 million won (US$9,000) the day before the holidays and broke through the 11 million won (US$9,900) level in the afternoon of February 15.
As of 6:00 pm on February 15, Bitcoin is trading at 11,060,000 won (US$9,950) at Upbit, a virtual currency exchange in Korea. At the same time, Bitcoin also traded at US$9,839 at Hong Kong's Bitfinex, one of the world's largest virtual currency exchanges. Ethereum and Ripple showed upward trends similar to that of Bitcoin, touching 1,060,000 won (US$954) and 1,260,000 (US$1,130) won, respectively.
The price of Bitcoin recovered to the 11 million won (US$9,900) level in 14 days. Bitcoin which was traded at the 11 million won (US$9,900) level on February 1 dropped to the 10 million won level (US$9,000) and finally touched the 7.8 million won (US$7,020) level on February 2 which was later called “Black Friday.” On February 4, the price temporarily topped 10 million won (US$9,000), but dropped only to hit 6,600,000 won (US$5,940) on February 6 due to a crash of the New York stock market. Afterwards, Bitcoin displayed its potential energy by going up by 1 million won (US$900) a day and recovered to the 10 million won (US$9,000) level but was stuck in a box of between 9 million won (US$810) and 10 million won (US$900) ahead of the holidays.
The price recovered to 11 million won (US$9,900) in two weeks on the first day of the holidays. It seems that expectations for deregulation by governments around the world played a key role in the recovery.
A story broke out that the Korean government was reviewing regulations based on the "Bit License" of the New York State Department of Financial Services in the United States also strengthened a prospect that regulations will be eased in Korea. The license will require exchanges to make a mandatory record of the sizes and dates of transactions and to report transactions worth more than US$10,000 to financial authorities.