North Korea to develop a cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin, the process in early stages.  This cryptocurrency project is designed to help the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to evade international sanctions and to establish its way around the “the U.S.-dominated global financial system.”

Alejandro Cao de Benos, Official in charge of crypto conferences for North Korea, stated their cryptocurrency is to be named; however when talking about its properties, he said it would be “more like Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.”

Cao de Benos further stated, “We are still in the very early stages in the creation of the token. Now we are in the phase of studying the goods that will give value to it […] No plans to digitize the [North Korean] won for now.”

The North Korean Embassy to the United States located in New York did not confirm or deny this claim.  An embassy spokesman stated, “I am not in a position to give you an answer.”

North Korea has been accusing the U.S. of spreading rumors.  

Pyongyang stated that the U.S. and other hostile forces were spreading rumors related to its intentions and activities in a slanderous manner.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, there are regulatory pressures on the cryptocurrency exchanges to stop providing access to its users to the so-called privacy coins.

Malta Based OKEX, through its South Korean arm, recently announced early on Monday that they will be delisting about five cryptocurrencies, which are providing extra privacy features for its users.

OKEX has stated that they will delist cryptocurrencies which will “violate laws or regulations [and] policies of government agencies and major agencies.”

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the “travel rule” recommendations are the reasons for pulling the five coins.

“It is recommended that exchanges be able to collect relevant information such as the name and address of the sender and recipient of the virtual asset.”

The FATF has decided to delist the currencies, which did not allow for the data to be obtained.

The travel rule has been a requirement for international banks when they are sending money on behalf of customers.  The travel rule is considered to be harmful to the user’s privacy.

The global anti-money laundering body allowed for 12 months to its member nations to implement this rule.  Though not mandatory, the body would be blacklisting the nations who are not complying with the rule. Compliance solutions providers are moving to launch systems which are focused on helping exchanges pass each other with the required data.