Statistics from Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) shows the major South Korean banks earned 2.2 billion won (US$2 million) last year in commission for providing virtual accounts to cryptocurrency investors, Yonhap reported.
The figure is 36 times more than the 61 million won (($57,340) earned the previous year.
According to FSS, the Industrial Bank of Korea earned the most from virtual account services last year. It made as much as 675 million won, followed by NongHyup Bank at 654 million won. Shinhan Bank reported 621 million won, followed by Kookmin Bank with 151 million won, Korea Development Bank with 61 million won and Woori Bank with 59 million won.
The total balance of virtual currency held in accounts at the six banks rose to 2.06 trillion won last year from 32.2 billion won the previous year.
Virtual currency regulations have been one of the hottest issues in South Korea since the justice minister said last week that the government is working on legislation that includes a shutdown of all exchanges. The remark sent cryptocurrency prices tumbling and sparked angry reactions from investors.
The reports on cryptocurrency regulation sparked strong reaction from many South Koreans, thousands of whom signed a petition on the website of the presidential Blue House to stop a ban on cryptocurrency trading.