Forbes - 🚨🚨 "Bank run" warning

Looming: "A situation similar to a bank run is expected near the deadline as investors can’t cash out of their holdings of ‘altcoins’ listed only on small exchanges," Lee Chul-yi, head of Foblgate, a mid-sized exchange in the country, told the Financial Times. "They will find themselves suddenly poor. I wonder if regulators can handle the side-effects."

Counting the cost: According to the FT, South Korean cryptocurrency traders are bracing for losses of $2.6 billion as the country's regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), cracks down on two-thirds of South Korea's crypto exchanges. Around 40 of South Korea’s estimated 60 crypto operators are expected to be shut down.

Why it matters: South Korea is one of the world’s biggest crypto markets currency markets and the Korean won is the third most widely used currency for bitcoin trading, after the dollar and euro, accounting for about 5% of global trading, the FT reported, citing data from Coinhills. The regulations will also affect global exchanges offering won trading. The FSC has sent a notice to 27 foreign crypto exchanges that run operations for Korean traders. Last month, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, suspended its won-to-crypto trading service.

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