South Korea banned Bitcoin derivatives

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According to a December 6 report from the Korea Herald, directives from the Financial Services Commission of the country led securities companies such as eBest Investment & Securities and Shinhan Financial Investment to cancel seminars marked to investors working on bitcoin futures. Those seminars were reportedly to be held early next week. Investments in derivatives developed by foreign exchanges are also prohibited.

The announced ban comes two weeks after the head of Financial Supervision Service Choe Heung-sik said that the regulator would not regulate bitcoin trading, noting that the country considers bitcoin as a speculative product, not a currency or a method of payment.

It is also a notable development, given the course of some exchanges in the U.S. for the development of such products, including CME Group and CBOE. It is expected that CBOE will start trading its bitcoin future on Sunday.

In an open letter addressed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and published yesterday, the FIA ​​industry trade group expressed concern to its members about the pending launches, as well as the process that led to their approval.