Bitcoin stabilized, went up, went down and now is going up again. The ride has been wild and the opinions on the outlook in the market have been shifting. We hold a steady course and strive to filter out all the noise to give you the most relevant information. An there's rarely a more important time than now for that. The tide might have turned and we're on the lookout for a confirmation of the trigger. Such a confirmation could increase the profits on our hypothetical position.
The South Korean government moved to raid the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the country. On Reuters, we read:
South Korean prosecutors raided the country's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, on Thursday and Friday on suspicion of fraud, Yonhap news agency reported.
The agency did not give details. Neither Upbit nor the financial investigation team of the Seoul Southern District public prosecutors' office was immediately available for comment.
Upbit sent a note to its clients that it is co-operating with the prosecutors and that it can guarantee that all its clients' assets are secure.
Four executives from two other South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges were detained in April in connection with the alleged embezzlement of billions of won.
It is important not to panic at this moment. The government is not out there to get your bitcoins. The action of South Korean prosecutors is most likely an extension of their usual activities. The only special thing about the whole situation is that it involves Bitcoin. For the government, it doesn't really matter if potential fraud is committed with checks, credit cards or Bitcoin. Sorry if this doesn't quite sound as exciting as a conspiracy theory involving malicious activities on the part of the South Korean authorities. But we would rather give you a story which is true than one which is exciting but false.
The one thing to keep in mind as a Bitcoin trader is to always conduct your own due diligence before committing funds to any particular exchange. Review the legal standing of the exchange, check the opinions of its users and so forth. However, even if a specific exchange doesn't do anything inherently illegal, it is still possible that the regulator doesn't have a full grasp of the concept of cryptocurrencies and might overreact to Bitcoin exchanges. It might be wise to diversify between Bitcoin exchanges in order to not have all your funds locked into one specific platform.
