Third major Korean bank joins digital asset custody market

Woori Bank has followed the pb of KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank by mounting up a integer plus custody associated venture

Seoul-based fiscal services holdings company, Woori Financial Group, has joined the integer plus custody services (DACS) market, according to a report successful The Korea Economic Daily yesterday. Woori Bank, the fiscal group’s banking unit, is mounting up a integer plus custody associated task (JV) successful collaboration with Coinplug Inc, a blockchain improvement company.

The JV volition beryllium named D-Custody and is expected to beryllium incorporated arsenic soon arsenic adjacent week. Coinplug volition beryllium D-Custody’s biggest shareholder, portion Woori Bank volition beryllium its 2nd large shareholder.

A Woori Bank authoritative said, “In overseas markets, integer plus custody has go a successful, established signifier among the caller services offered by the banks.”

It is simply a peculiarly important signifier successful Korea wherever home entities aren’t allowed to usage cryptocurrency speech services and truthful indispensable store their cryptocurrencies themselves. This carries risks of nonaccomplishment oregon theft, which is wherefore Korean companies are keen to crook to DACS.

However, Korean banks, which person the champion estimation for information and custody, are prohibited from entering the DACS marketplace directly, which is wherefore they are mounting up JVs, successful which they are lone partial shareholders.

Woori Financial Group wasn’t South Korea’s archetypal large banking radical to bash this – KB Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group person already entered the DACS market.

Last November, KB Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s largest bank, joined forces with crypto task money Hashed and blockchain institution Haechi Labs to found Korea Digital Asset (KODA).

Then, successful aboriginal 2021, Shinhan Bank invested successful the DACS institution Korea Digital Asset Custody (KDAC), which was founded by Korea’s archetypal cryptocurrency speech Korbit. Shinhan Bank was successful the quality conscionable past week for becoming the archetypal accepted fiscal instauration successful Korea to articulation Klatyn’s Blockchain Governance Council, portion it besides committed to processing Klatyn-based integer services to assistance foster the fintech ecosystem.

NH Bank besides announced plans past week to collaborate with blockchain improvement level Hexlant and Korea Information and Communications Co. successful bid to motorboat a associated integer plus business.

As KODA COO Cho Jin-seok explained, “Unlike the cryptocurrency trading concern that has a precocious level of uncertainties, the banks recognize that the integer plus custody concern tin beryllium mostly nether their power and besides falls nether their expertise area.”