South Korea to hold emergency meeting on cryptocurrencies, measures expected Friday

SEOUL: South Korea's government has called an emergency meeting to discuss the trading of cryptocurrencies, and measures on the market will be announced on Friday, a central bank official said on Wednesday.

The official declined to give further details.

Bitcoin's more than 15-fold this year has drawn warnings from the government as ordinary South Koreans rushed to virtual currency trading to make a fast buck.

South Korea currently bans all financial institutions from dealing with virtual currencies.

But the country is among the world's biggest bitcoin markets and is home to the world's most active virtual currency exchange, Bithumb.