I beg to differ. 22% seems like a bargain for S. Korean companies. United States Corporations pay an average 39.6 percent.

With taxation, the exchanges get to stay open instead of outright ban AND the gov't just legitimized crypto-currency exchanging as a business. This is really great news. These exchanges will fill the sting initially, but they're insanely profitable as it is, so I imagine they'll continue to be profitable or will pass on the new burden to the trader in terms of fees. Which might dampen trading volume somewhat, but which might also bring price of Bitcoin in line with the rest of the world.

Speaking to the decentralized exchanges argument. I, too, cannot wait for them to become a reality as they will completely change the landscape. But they're still a ways away from being truly decentralized and scalable and resilient. Cobinhood is a good example of the challenges such exchanges faces to establishing a footprint and then going fully decentralized. So, in the meantime, governments finding ways to work with crypto-currency businesses is good for all concerned.