this is all in the name of transparency. the south korean government wants to cut down on any illegal activity that could be going on because of the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency transactions. you may remember the wannacry attack last year that affected hundreds of thousands of people in 150 countries and asked for ransom to be paid in bitcoin. that kind of negative publicity has helped to shape opinion. earlier injanuary, two exchanges, bithumb and coin—one, were raided by south korean tax authorities over concerns not everyone is paying theirfair share. and just last week injapan one of the worlds biggest cryptocurrency heists took place. david merry is chief executive of investoo group, which describes itself as the worlds biggest performance marketing company in the crypto industry. do you think this is the right step for the authorities in south korea to stop anonymous trading via these exchanges? i think that writing that the regulation stays light and that they are using this as a way to identify customers than it is positive and will only affect people who use crypto currency is fully legal reasons. i was going to say, you have hit the nail on the head, the anonymous nature of it enables people who don't want to be found out what they are doing with their money, it feels that activity. why do those who set these exchanges up in the first place want to go down the road of anonymity?” in the first place want to go down the road of anonymity? i think that the road of anonymity? i think that the aspect of anonymity has been key in the development in the real reason why most people have been interested in crypto currency is to start with. however now i think it is much bigger than that, people realising it has everyday use and it will be around for the foreseeable future and i believe that in order to have mainstream uses of crypto currencies, people and governments need to know who those users are. you are reviewing currency exchanges all the time, how many are there out there? we all know about bitcoin and some of the others, are there many p°ppin9 some of the others, are there many p°pping up some of the others, are there many popping up all the time? there are thousands of crypto currency exchanges out there and one of the important point here is that most of the mainstream ones anyway already go through know your customer procedures, so they already know who the consumers are, they have share that information. what is being enforced by the government in south korea is something that broadly happens in practice everyday in the uk and the usa. —— probably. as a business we go through hundreds of exchanges to our network of and i think that this is simply the government formalising something that has already done and been affected. it is already here to stay from your point of view? they are not just a speculator ‘s from your point of view? they are notjust a speculator ‘s paradise. if you look at the way that the market is moving, it has gone mainstream. you have companies like mcdonald's, subway coming forward and saying they will start to accept their currencies as a way to pay for their currencies as a way to pay for their services. you have the governments, the government of dubai coming forward and saying that they wa nt to coming forward and saying that they want to be the world ‘s first. they are here to stay and there would be are here to stay and there would be a bubble. we will watch this space. —— won't. president trump will be delivering his first state of the union address in the us congress on tuesday. in his speech, many are expecting to hear more about his america first plan. just last week, he followed up months of rhetoric about protectionism, by imposing heavy tariffs on washing machines and solar products. the move caused an uproar, particularly in asia, where countries are most likely to be impacted by the move. but the trump administration has warned there will be more to come. the bbc‘s yogita limaye reports from new york. barring a potential trade war, steep ta riffs barring a potential trade war, steep tariffs imposed on imported sole apparel is in america —— solar panels have divided the sector. us manufacturers are happy but american companies that use foreign—made products, all of which come from china fear they lose business and that people like these, who install solar panels could lose jobs. and penny parreira runs a firm that sets up penny parreira runs a firm that sets up solar projects. there is least incentivise it can be more competitive with the chinese, to start a trade war potentially, it is also symbolically a bad way to do it. instead of saying we are going to tax solar energy, we could say that we will make it cheaper and better to manufacture in the us. presidentjob officially better to manufacture in the us. president job officially approved the tariffs last week on a move in line with his america first policy. protectionism is what the president campaigned on and what he seems to be delivering. he is renegotiating free—trade agreements with canada, mexico and south korea are cheating is ourunfairand solar mexico and south korea are cheating is our unfair and solar products and washing machines are only the first among a host of items the us wants to slap import duties on. steel and a new minium —— aluminium are expected to be next, china is the world ‘s biggest producer of both. many argue that prices in the us are low because of cheap imports from the asian giant, but others say they have delivered a deadly blow to american manufacturing.” have delivered a deadly blow to american manufacturing. i think china has been waging a trade war on the 42 decades and we have been following a policy of what i call mullein neglect, we have been ignoring the interests of arran companies and our own workers. but it is not just companies and our own workers. but it is notjust china. us policies could in fact several nations are. voices against protectionism have already been growing louder and in a globalised world, some of these leaders could decide to hit back. a major chinese employer in the uk has warned the prime minister that she needs to give people a ‘definite signal‘ about the kind of brexit deal she wants. the billionaire department store owner yuan yafai, who controls house of fraser, spoke to the bbc on the eve of theresa may's visit to china. robin brant has more. british things with an unmistakable british things with an unmistakable british feel on sale in a distinctly british feel on sale in a distinctly british place. but this house of fraser is in china in the home city of the billionaire who now controls the british retail chain. why did you want to buy british? this man has 17,000 staff on his books in the uk and a major interest in written‘s feature, including brexit. —— britain's. with an iconic british brand in his portfolio and a proudly displayed rajesh charity partner, he is up beat about the future. next door is hamleys, and other well—known british name that is china owned and looking for a slice of the growing middle class they could soon be half a billion strong. being bought by a chinese company is a surefire way to get a ccess chinese company is a surefire way to get access to this country. for many other british firms though, it can bea other british firms though, it can be a very, very challenging experience. 1—way ian khama is this. —— 1—way ian khama is this. this ad for a sport trips, one is for premier league fans who want to watch games. insurance giants are here too, but both firms have been forced intojoint here too, but both firms have been forced into joint ventures. here too, but both firms have been forced intojoint ventures. 0ne here too, but both firms have been forced intojoint ventures. one of the complaint about china. they are opening up in some ways though, the uk hasa opening up in some ways though, the uk has a new deal to send more pigs trotters here, step—by—step the government is looking for incremental trade deals with china ina incremental trade deals with china in a post— brexit world. now let's brief you some other business stories. us soft drink maker dr pepper snapple is to merge with coffee company keurig green mountain. the new beverage giant will bring together well—known brands such as dr pepper, 0rangina, schweppes and sunkist with green mountain coffee roasters. keurig dr pepper will have a combined annual revenue of $11 billion. 0il giant exxon mobil plans to spend $50 billion in the us over the next five years. more than $35 billion of that amount is for projects not previously announced. exxon‘s chief executive said the investment is partly due to cuts to the corporate tax rate. sentiments of change for financial markets, the strong rallies and since the start of the account to a whole. the worst day for the broader market, the s&p 500 so far in 2018. elsewhere in asia, you can see falls right across the border. japan as well down by zero points six of a percent today. that is a look at market. up next, newsbriefing. see you in a moment. the 1.6 million people who receive the main disability benefit the personal independence payment are to have their cases reviewed. it follows a court ruling that the government had discriminated against claimants with mental health conditions. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan explains. homework time for chloe clark and his son, she suffers from severe anxiety and cannot leave without a family member. her condition was caused by psychological disorders rather than a physical problem and she was denied payment. i can't go out on my own, my husband had to quit work. i had a long period of no contact with friends and family. last month, the high court found that denied payments we re court found that denied payments were from a tory. —— this from a tory. every person in the will have their cases reviewed, 1.6 million people. at the end of the process around 220,000 people will get extra money. the changes will cost the government £3.7 billion by 2020 to. it will make a lot of difference to people ‘s quality of life, whether people ‘s quality of life, whether people can travel somewhere, forward to heat their homes, have additional food to eat. very basic difference is that it will make people ‘s quality of life. exactly who will benefit is not clear yet but for people like low week, there is less reason to feel anger towards a system that has failed its onus is. head teachers outside london claim they receive poor funding compared to those in schools in the capital. the principals of more than 6,000 schools in england want more resources and have sent letters of protest to the government. more on that in breakfast. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: after years of debate, ireland will hold a referendum in may on whether to reform the country's strict abortion laws. the catalan parliament is set to vote later on whether to reappoint carles puigdemont as president of the spanish region. the bbc is proposing a pay cap for its news presenters following an outcry about the size of the salaries of its highest paid stars. an end to secrecy: south korea implements a ban on anonymous trading in crypto currencies, will other countries follow? earlier, will looking ahead to what prices was likely to say a brexit transition deal would likely look like. —— brussels was likely to say. you can get that information on the bbc news out. a government paper, you can see that, says that it would hit the economy. lots of detail. the couple to watch that if you're following now it is time for the news briefing. in the headlines in the media across the world, we begin with the irish times which unsurprisingly leads on plans by the irish government to hold a referendum in may on whether to reform the country's strict abortion laws. the washington post reports on the deputy director of the fbi, andrew mccabe resigning from his job weeks before he was due to retire. he's been the focus of intense criticism from president trump and his republican allies for what they claim is political bias towards hillary clinton. easyjet's chief executive has volunteered to reduce his salary by around $50,000 to match that of his female predecessor. we will talk about that story in a moment. the japan times has a story on tokyo's so—called 3000