It appears that South Korea’s government is attempting to crack down on cryptocurrency trading. Whilst it is not known how they will do this, it seems that the threat has been big enough to drive hysteria throughout the market, with the value of bitcoin falling by nearly a quarter.

South Korea is the third biggest trader of Bitcoin in the world, following Japan and the US, and is host to a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges. What’s more, it seems that the demand for Bitcoin is increasing in Japan, with the digital currency previously trading up to 30% more when compared to other countries.

South Korea is known for its first-class infrastructure for IT networks and incredibly fast internet connections. This makes trading digital currencies much faster and according to WiseApp, the total number of cryptocurrency app users in the country has significantly increased in the last 90 days. However, despite the popularity in South Korea’s nation, the government has described the currency craze as irrational.

With so many South Koreans yearning to trade cryptocurrency the backlash has been swift, with more than 200,000 people signing a petition which resists the government\'s crack down. What’s more, the people of South Korea may get an answer soon, as the government have promised to reply to any petitions that have over 200,000 signatures within 30 days