A South Korean shopping mall has taken the measure of banning merchants from mining digital currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum in their stores.
Yongsan Electronics Market, located in Seoul, has stated that vendors can’t mine for cryptocurrencies, namely bitcoin and ethereum. The reasons for this are down to electrical costs, concern for starting a fire and rising room temperatures, reports the Korean Economic Daily.
The report states:
As merchants who run PCs (diggers) in virtual shopping malls are increasing in the shopping mall, there are complaints about power consumption and room temperature rise as well as fire worries.
It added:When a mining machine is operated, a considerable amount of power is consumed. As a result, the electricity price increases sharply (due to the progressive tax) in the shopping districts, which increases the cost burden on all merchants.
This news comes at a time when South Korea is experiencing a surge of interest in the use of bitcoin.
In May, it was reported that the price of bitcoin was trading over $3,800 in South Koreawhereas average global prices were listing $2,514. The report added, though, that the low trading volume and the limited number of investors and suppliers, at the time, could have made it easy to manipulate the market.
South Korea appears keen to embrace this new technology. So much so, that the South Korean government is now issuing permits to fintech companies, including bitcoin mediated foreign currency transfer services, to enable international money transfers for small funds.
Furthermore, the country is preparing to regulate and legalize the digital currency.
It’s understandable, then, that the vendors who sell the GPUs to mine cryptocurrencies are utilizing them for some extra income.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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