The South Korean regulatory body FSS (Financial Supervisory Service) has issued a further statement regarding its plans to regulate cryptocurrency trading of Bitcoin and similar digital currencies. Following the December 13th announcement that the South Korean government and financial authorities would be imposing a regulatory framework on cryptocurrency trading, the latest statement suggests that such regulation would be limited to warnings.

This decision is based on the fact that the FSS doesn\'t regard digital currencies as real money, since they cannot function as legal tender. Some general rules were issued, relating to Bitcoin and local digital currency networks, but no direct supervision or governance was planned at this time.

Choe Heung-sik, the FSS Governor, said in a press conference that the role of the regulator in the arena of digital currency should be confined to warning the public of the potential risks. Since virtual currencies are not the same as fiat currencies, regulations cannot be applied to them in the same way.

In Heung-sik\'s opinion, introducing regulatory measures on cryptocurrencies is likely to be counter-productive, and is more likely to promote trading than to curb it. Investors would think the imposition of regulations meant that the FSS already recognised digital currency as real fiat currency.