A vice ministerial meeting was held Friday to check on the progress of the government's efforts to rein in the feverish speculative investment in cryptocurrency. 

Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination Hong Nam-ki presided over the meeting at the government complex in Seoul also attended by officials from related government agencies, including the Strategy and Finance Ministry, Justice Ministry, Financial Services Commission, Korea Communications Commission, Fair Trade Commission and Science and ICT Ministry. 

After keeping each other updated on respective measures to root out the frenzied trading of digital currencies, they particularly discussed the Justice Ministry's efforts to shut down local cryptocurrency exchanges. 

On Thursday, Justice Minister Park Sang-ki said the government is preparing a special bill to ban cryptocurrency transactions, causing a significant selloff of digital currency during the day. 

The presidential office downplayed his remarks later in the day, noting different stances among related government agencies and a necessity of further discussion among them.