S Korea regulator says 'virtual currencies' are not currencies

Seoul

SOUTH Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said on Tuesday it does not consider bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to be currencies of any kind and would not seek to regulate their trade beyond rules announced last week.

"All we can do is to warn people as we don't see virtual currencies as actual types of currency, meaning that we cannot step up regulation for now," FSS governor Choe Heung Sik said at a press conference.