Securities firms in South Korea withdrew plans to draw investments through foreign bitcoin-related derivatives after an order to ban the trade by the country’s financial services regulator, the Financial Services Commission. The direction was sent through the Korea Financial Investment Association last week.

As a result, securities firms such as eBest Investment & Securities and Shinhan Financial Investment cancelled seminars for bitcoin futures investors slated for December 14 and 15, respectively.

“Drawing investor attention to bitcoin futures could have been a way to cool down the overheated (cryptocurrency) market,” an industry source told The Korea Herald.

Bitcoin futures began trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange in the United States on Sunday, while the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is also set to trade the futures starting December 18.

South Korea‘s top financial watchdog since November has officially viewed cryptocurrency as a non-financial instrument, while the initial coin offerings are banned under the Financial Services Commission’s Capital Market Act, meaning cryptocurrencies are regulated as a financial instrument.

The watchdog’s moves have been called “self-contradicting” by Kim Jin-hwa, who has been organising a civic association joined by local cryptocurrency business entities including Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit.

“An entry of new technology into Korea is hamstrung by the regulation,” he told The Korea Herald.

The news came after a civic association preparation committee, led by Kim, mapped out the voluntary regulation of cryptocurrency in the nation suffering from a legal vacuum. Starting January, the bottom-up regulation will force a cryptocurrencies trader to buy or sell coins through one verified, real-name virtual account per exchange.

The South Korean government has looked to frame out state-sponsored regulations to define cryptocurrency exchange operators as fundraisers without permission.

The National Tax Service last week hinted at collecting tax from payments made in cryptocurrencies.