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CoinMarketCap, without warning and explanation, has excluded data from South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges in calculations of average prices of cryptocurrencies. This could provoke a panic sale of crypto-assets around the world.

The popular portal for monitoring average prices CoinMarketCap does not take cryptocurrencies rates on South Korean exchanges into account for calculating average prices. Prices of cryptocurrencies on the South Korean exchanges continue to be displayed in the Markets section, but they go with a note that this price is not taken into account while calculating the average world rate.

Cryptocurrencies on South Korean crypto-exchanges are traditionally traded with a significant premium, which reaches 10-15% in comparison with the prices on other popular global exchanges. But arbitration with the South Korean exchanges is complicated because of the need to mention when registering, phone number of South Korean telecom operator and other information that can be obtained only in South Korea. Additionally, South Korean authorities have recently decided to tighten cryptocurrency regulation and prohibit registration of foreigners, as well as minors, on crypto-exchanges.

The exclusion of data from South Korean crypto-exchanges from the calculation of average rates of cryptocurrencies could cause a panic sale of crypto-assets all over the world. Users assume that traders and investors who use information from CoinMarketCap saw the fall in most cryptocurrency rates and rushed to transfer their assets to fiat, fearing a collapse of the market, as they did not know that the decline in rates was largely due to a change in their calculation.

As of 15.50 UTC, bitcoin dipped 13% to $14,600; Ripple fell 30% to $2.44, Litecoin fell in price by 16% to $247.

Several hours later, CoinMarketCap explained its decision to exclude Korean exchanges from price calculations by reminding that cryptocurrency rates on Korean exchanges are often higher then on other exchanges.