Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) Hana Bank, one of the biggest banks in South Korea, and the leading cryptocurrency custody company BitGo Trust Company have entered into a strategic business partnership to provide digital asset custody services.
At the “Korea Blockchain Week” conference on September 5, KEB Hana Bank representatives announced that they will be working together with BitGo to jointly develop digital asset custody services in South Korea. Hana Bank has 111 locations with about $10 billion in local banking assets and equity.
The joint venture will combine Hana Bank’s knowledge of financial services and compliance with BitGo’s crypto custodial solutions, with the aim of strengthening the security and transparency of the South Korean digital asset market. Hana Bank executive remarked that this collaboration will contribute to “strengthening trust in the domestic digital asset market and consumer protection”. The two companies plan to launch the crypto custody service in the second half of 2024.
In addition, Hana Bank has also expressed an interest in tokenized deposit technology as an alternative to central bank digital currencies and private stablecoins. Together with Woori Bank and Maeli Business News Korea, Hana Bank published a study in July 2023 about the use of “certificate of deposit” tokens that will replace conventional notes and deposits without disrupting the existing banking system.
This news comes after South Korea’s Parliament passed the Virtual Asset User Protection legislation in June 2023, which integrates 19 crypto-related bills.
