Four top biggest financial institutions in South Korea Shinhan, Woori, NH Nonghyup and Kookmin banks have announced their plan to introduce cryptocurrency-assets services to their customers.
The four banks according to report hold a combined value of more than 1.2 trillion US dollars in assets.
It’s gathered that each of the financial institutions aims to hold and manage cryptocurrencies for their customers.
The latest announcement by Shinhan Bank and Woori bank followed an amended South Korean Special Financial Transactions Information Act, expected to come into force 2021.
Crypto plan by top South Korean banks
In 2017, Shinhan bank announced plans for crypto storage, but government’s anti-crypto policy at the time thwarted the plan,
In recent time, NH Nonghyup Bank and Kookmin Bank coordinated blockchain teams to implement crypto custodial features.
Nonghyup bank says it hopes to launch services for “institutional investors” in the coming weeks.
Is South Korea making impressive progress in crypto services?
Sung-Joon, head of the Blockchain Research Center at Dongguk, believes that the Korean government is not making impressive progress as it ought to, stating that American institutions are well ahead of South Korea’s banking sector.
“Other countries are moving very quickly in this regard. But there is still no legal system in place in South Korea, so progress is slower than expected,” Sung-Joon said.
According to him, crypto industry needs “institutional support” to achieve a widespread integration.
Cryptocurrency into other sectors in South Korea
Though Sung-Joon is unsatisfied by the slow pace, yet South Koreans have shown significant love for blockchain and digital assets in recent year.
In one of our reports, we told you how KEB Hana Bank announced its partnership with the Korea Expressway Corporation to implement a blockchain-based toll system for the country’s highways while Seongnam’s payment program would be issuing new digital gift certificates very soon.