The South Korean government on Thursday announced its plans to impose more regulations to curb speculation in cryptocurrency trading in the country, Reuters reported.

In statements, the government noted that the prices of digital currencies on domestic exchanges was much higher as compared to global markets.

“Cryptocurrency speculation has been irrationally overheated in Korea,” the government said in a statement (as quoted by FT). “We cannot leave the abnormal situation of speculation any longer.”

“The government had warned several times that virtual coins cannot play a role as actual currency and could result in high losses due to excessive volatility,” the government said in a statement.

The measures to be undertaken by the government include a ban on opening anonymous digital currency accounts and legislation that will enable regulators to close cryptocurrency exchanges if required.

Bitcoin price recently saw a major downturn after it skyrocketed to $19666 levels on December 17. It is currently trading at $13729 levels at the time of writing