CNBC reports on January 15th that the South Korean government is still deliberating its proposal to ban cryptocurrency exchanges. A decision will only be made after there has been sufficient consultation, a government spokesman told a local news agency. The Office for Government Policy Coordination stated that a \"government-wide\" decision would be made, adding fuel to the rampant speculation in the country as to the future of Bitcoin. 

The Ministry of Justice last week claimed that the South Korean government was preparing to ban cryptocurrency trading and close down exchanges, but that was only one possible measure, the OGPC statement said, to curb speculation. The Finance Minister counterclaimed this claim on January 11th, saying that further consultation was required with relevant government departments, which suggests that talk of an outright ban was premature.

However, on the day of the MoJ announcement, two of South Korea\'s largest digital currency exchanges, Bithumb and Coinone, were raided by authorities. The country as a whole is attempting to curb speculative trading as the cryptocurrency market has gone wild, including a proposed ban on ICOs.

The market listing site, CoinMarketCap, excluded some Sout Korean exchanges last week because the major cryptocurrencies are traded there at a significantly higher price, which affects their market averages.