SEOUL: The South Korean government on Thursday said it plans to ban cryptocurrency trading, sending bitcoin prices plummeting and throwing the virtual coin market into turmoil as the nation’s police and tax authorities raided local exchanges on alleged tax evasion. The clampdown in South Korea, a crucial source of global demand for cryptocurrency, came as policymaker around the world struggled to regulate an asset whose value has skyrocketed over the last year.
Justice minister Park Sang-ki said the government is preparing a bill to ban trading of the virtual currency on domestic exchanges.
“There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges,” said Park at a press conference, according to the ministry’s press office.
A press official said the proposed ban on cryptocurrency trading was announced after “enough discussion” with other government agencies including the nation’s finance ministry and financial regulators.
Once a bill is drafted, legislation for an outright ban of virtual coin trading will require a majority vote of the total 297 members of the National Assembly, a process that could take months or even years.
The government’s tough stance triggered a selloff of the cyrptocurrency on both local and offshore exchanges.
The local price of bitcoin plunged as much as 21 percent in midday trade to 18.3 million won (SR64,310) after the minister’s comments. It still trades at around a 30 percent premium compared to other countries.
Bitcoin was down more than 10 percent on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp at $13,199, after earlier dropping as low as $13,120, its weakest since Jan. 2. South Korea’s cryptocurrency-related shares were also hammered. Vidente and Omnitel, which are stakeholders of Bithumb, skidded by the daily trading limit of 30 percent each.
Park Nok-sun, a cryptocurrency analyst at NH Investment & Securities, said the herd behavior in South Korea’s virtual coin market has raised concerns.
Indeed, bitcoin’s 1,500 percent surge last year has stoked huge demand for cryptocurency in South Korea, drawing college students to housewives and sparking worries of a gambling addiction.
“Virtual coins trade at a hefty premium in South Korea, and that is herd behavior showing how strong demand is here,” Park said. “Some officials are pushing for stronger and stronger regulations because they only see more (investors) jumping in, not out.”
There are more than a dozen cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, according to Korea Blockchain Industry Association. The proliferation of the virtual currency and the accompanying trading frenzy have raised eyebrows among regulators globally, though many central banks have refrained from supervising cryptocurrencies themselves.
The news on South Korea’s proposed ban came as authorities tightened their grip on some of the cryptocurrency exchanges.
The nation’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinone and Bithumb were raided by police and tax agencies this week for alleged tax evasion. The raids follow moves by the finance ministry to identify ways to tax the market that has become as big as the nation’s small-cap Kosdaq index in terms of daily trading volume.
Some investors appeared to have taken preemptive action.
“I have already cashed most of mine (virtual coins) as I was aware that something was coming up in a couple of days,” said Eoh Kyung-hoon, a 23-year old investor.
Bitcoin sank on Monday after website CoinMarketCap removed prices from South Korean exchanges, because coins were trading at a premium of about 30 percent in Asia’s fourth largest economy. That created confusion and triggered a broad selloff among investors.
An official at Coinone told Reuters that a few officials from the National Tax Service raided the company’s office this week.
“Local police also have been investigating our company since last year, they think what we do is gambling,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said and added that Coinone was cooperating with the investigation.
Bithumb, the second largest virtual currency operator in South Korea, was also raided by the tax authorities on Wednesday.
“We were asked by the tax officials to disclose paperwork and things yesterday,” an official at Bithumb said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The nation’s tax office and police declined to confirm whether they raided the local exchanges.
South Korean financial authorities had previously said they are inspecting six local banks that offer virtual currency accounts to institutions, amid concerns the increasing use of such assets could lead to a surge in crime.
South Korea plans to ban cryptocurrency trading, rattles market
South Korea plans to ban cryptocurrency trading, rattles market
PIF-backed EV maker Lucid hits 16k 2025 deliveries, sets sights on robotaxi deployment
RIYADH: Electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Group, majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, announced a surge in deliveries in 2025 with volumes reaching 15,841 units, a 55 percent increase year-on-year.
According to a statement, the EV maker also provided an optimistic production outlook for 2026, signaling confidence in its operational turnaround and strategic shift toward autonomy.
In September 2023, the group opened its first-ever international car manufacturing facility in the Kingdom. The hub serves as the company’s second Advanced Manufacturing Plant and its first outside of the US.
According to the earnings report, the company delivered 5,345 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2025, up 72 percent from the same period in the previous year, marking its eighth consecutive quarter of record deliveries.
Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said that 2025 “was all about execution and strategy adjustment to set Lucid up for long-term success. Against a challenging macro backdrop, we nearly doubled production, gained market share, reduced unit costs, and strengthened our financial position.”
This commercial momentum translated directly into financial gains. Lucid’s fourth-quarter revenue soared 123 percent to $522.7 million, while full-year 2025 earnings climbed 68 percent to $1.35 billion. The company ended the quarter with a robust liquidity position of approximately $4.6 billion.
A key driver of the improved performance was the ramp-up of production, including the launch of the Lucid Gravity SUV. Despite facing supply chain and tariff headwinds, Lucid nearly doubled its total production for the year.
The company clarified its final production figures for 2025, reporting a total of 17,840 vehicles. This aligns with its previous guidance of approximately 18,000 units.
Lucid explained that a preliminary estimate of 18,378 units, announced in early January, was revised after 538 vehicles were found not to have completed the final internal validation procedures required to be classified as “produced.”
These vehicles are expected to be finalized in 2026, and the company stressed the revision does not impact previously reported financial results.
The manufacturer expects to produce between 25,000 and 27,000 vehicles in 2026, representing growth of up to 51 percent compared with 2025.
Chief Financial Officer Taoufiq Boussaid said: “Q4 marked a clear step-change in production and unit economics. The progress we made is structural, creating a more repeatable and stable operating cadence heading into 2026.”
Beyond the production numbers, Lucid outlined a pivot toward software and autonomy. Winterhoff highlighted the company’s ambition to become an “early mover in the emerging robotaxi market” by leveraging its industry-leading EV technology and strategic partnerships.
To fund these future growth platforms while maintaining financial discipline, the company is making targeted adjustments to its workforce.
“As we prepare for the next stage of our product and volume expansion, we are making targeted adjustments to our US-based, non-manufacturing workforce to reallocate resources to support the next stage of our growth and margin progression,” Boussaid added.
He reiterated the company’s commitment to “financial rigor, operational efficiency, and thoughtful capital allocation.”
In January 2025, the EV maker became the first global automotive company to join the Kingdom’s “Made in Saudi” program, granting it the right to use the “Saudi Made” label on its products, symbolizing the nation’s focus on quality and innovation.
Lucid’s facility, located in King Abdullah Economic City, can currently assemble 5,000 vehicles annually during its first phase. Once fully operational, the complete manufacturing plant, including the assembly line, is expected to produce up to 155,000 electric cars per year.
This comes as the Kingdom is promoting the adoption of electric vehicles as part of its Vision 2030 strategy, which aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2060.
A critical target of the initiative is for 30 percent of all vehicles in Riyadh to be electric by 2030, contributing to a broader goal of reducing emissions in the capital by 50 percent.
