VOA慢速英语2018--South Korea Plans to Ban Bitcoin Trading

 

South Korea said on Thursday it plans to ban trading of cryptocurrency, including the popular bitcoin.

The announcement sent bitcoin prices much lower and created unrest in the cryptocurrency market.

Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said the government was preparing a bill to ban trading of the virtual money on South Korean currency exchanges.

He said, “There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and the justice ministry¹ is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges.”

The price of bitcoin in South Korea dropped as much as 21 percent immediately after the minister’s comments.

Around the world, one bitcoin was valued at about $14,000 on Thursday, January 11. Over the past year, the price moved from less than $1,000 in January 2017 to a high of $19,000 last month.

Bitcoin is different from national currencies, which are supported by governments and national banks. It is stored as a line of computer code. It is not printed on paper or something you can hold.

Bitcoin is similar to real money because you can spend it without using your real identity, as you do with a credit card. People who want to buy and sell things anonymously² like bitcoin.

Exchanges of bitcoin in South Korea

By Thursday afternoon, more than 55,000 South Koreans called on the government to stop the proposed ban.

After the price drop, the South Korean president’s office said a ban on cryptocurrency exchanges had yet to be finalized³. It said the ban was one of the measures being considered.

A press official at the justice ministry said the proposed ban on cryptocurrency trading came after “enough discussion” with finance ministry and financial officials.

Once a bill is written, legislation for a ban of virtual coin trading still requires a majority of the vote in the National Assembly. It is a process that could take months or even years.

Mun Chong-hyun, chief analyst⁴ at EST Security, told Reuters the ban “will make trading difficult here, but not impossible.”

Mun added, “Keen traders, especially hackers⁶, will find it tough to cash out their gains from virtual coin investments in Korea but they can go overseas, for example, Japan.”

Park Nok-sun is a cryptocurrency expert at NH Investment & Securities. Park said “Some officials are pushing for stronger and stronger regulations because they only see more (investors) jumping in, not out.”

South Korean officials are worried that the rising value has fueled huge demand for cryptocurrency in the country. They fear college students and housewives are hoping to get rich quick by investing. They likened it to a game of chance.

The news of South Korea’s proposed ban came as governments around the world are looking to control the trading of cryptocurrencies.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

cryptocurrency - n. money that only exists electronically

virtual - adj. existing or occurring on computers or on the internet

anonymously - adv. not named or identified

analyst - n. a person who study or analyze⁷ something

hacker⁵ - n. a person who secretly gets access to a computer system in order to get information, cause damage, etc.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

3 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

6 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

7 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。