Doonamoo CEO Lee Sir-goo Wednesday urged the government to communicate with the domestic and foreign associations to seek ways of implementing the global guidelines on cryptocurrency.

In a press conference on the sideline of the Upbit Developers Conference 2019, he said the domestic blockchain and cryptocurrency business has been in profound difficulty due to the government’s negative policy.

“Over the past year, the government’s stance on cryptocurrency has changed little, cornering the exchanges and blockchain startups,” he complained.

He said the Upbit exchange has been in difficulty in opening new accounts of investors and transfer of funds between the exchange and investors.

Upbit has launched its subsidiary in Indonesia, but could not keep the Indonesian exchange running as the government prevents blockchain enterprises from transferring funds overseas, Lee said.

Doonamoo wants to open exchanges in southeast Asian countries but could not do so because of fund remittance restrictions, he added.

Twenty months have passed since the government banned the exchanges from opening new accounts for investors. Until the National Assembly passes bills on cryptocurrencies in line with the guidelines set by the global anti-money laundering agency, banks would be reluctant to allow the exchanges to open new accounts for cryptocurrency investors, he predicted.

He said the Korea Blockchain Association would like to talk with the financial regulators on ways of solving pending issues for cryptocurrency business.

Last June, the global anti-money laundering agency, called the Financial Action Task Force, has given each member country one-year moratorium in introducing its guideline on cryptocurrencies. Under this guideline, the South Korean government must adopt the global rules on cryptocurrencies.