Woori Financial Group, the largest bank in South Korea, is partnering with blockchain solution provider Coinplug to provide cryptocurrency custody services to customers, iHodl Russia has learned.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.
Coinplug will get a majority stake in the D-Custody joint venture. According to sources, the service will be launched next week. Previously, such initiatives were implemented by Woori Bank's competitors: KB Kookmin, Shinhan Bank, and Nonghyup Bank.
The trigger for the race of cryptocurrency custody services became the legalization of cryptocurrency trading by the local parliament, as well as the tightening of control over compliance with anti-money laundering measures by the Financial Services Commission. So far, South Korea's regulation only allows the financial institutions to enter the crypto market through JV or share investments.
As iHodl earlier reported, South Korean financial institutions will be required to classify cryptocurrency exchanges as high-risk clients and subject to strengthened monitoring. Korean banks will deny services to clients that do not want to comply with ID verification procedures, and report suspicious transactions to the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU).
The new guidelines will allegedly affect nearly 60 cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. Cryptocurrency exchanges will also have to submit a request for a license by September 24 to KoFIU. The regulatory measure is taken due to watchdogs concern that banks can be held liable for financial crimes at the exchanges.
Access more than 50 of the world's financial markets directly from your EXANTE account – including NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange.