Top Four Banks of South Korea to Offer Bitcoin Custody Services

The top four banks of South Korea are all set to provide the clients with custodian services for cryptocurrencies after a significant surge in customer demand for the same. The scheme of Bitcoin custody will be rolled out in adherence to the recently published governmental legislation for cryptocurrencies. Above all, it is the rising demand of Bitcoin that urged four out of the five influential banks of South Korea to adopt measures for offering custodian services for Bitcoin assets.

According to the statements made by the banks of South Korea, diversification and customer demand are the reasons that prompted the banks to furnish the clients with crypto custodian services. The top-ranking banks of South Korea possess holdings worth more than $1.2 trillion. Of these banks, the four that are storming into the crypto space include Nonghyup, Kookmin, Shinhan, and Woori.

The reports claimed that the banks Woori and Shinhan had declared about the scheme of offering Bitcoin custodian services before the release of the government policy regarding cryptocurrency transactions. The provisions of the legislation enacted by the Korean government include taxation on the profits of cryptocurrency trading and regular documentation of crypto transactions. According to the legislation, only licensed financial institutions can participate in the operation and offering of cryptocurrency services to the clients.

Kookmin and NH Nonghyup Banks have already created teams of blockchain specialists who will chalk out the scheme. Even though the economic sector is considering the Bitcoin custodian service as a welcome move, yet, economists believe that the authority is not striving hard enough, unlike countries like the US and China that are far advanced in the use and regulation of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology.

The head of Blockchain Research Center of Dongguk University, Park Sung-Joon, said that the slow progress of South Korea in the cryptocurrency space is because there is no uniform legal system to regulate crypto transactions yet, however, with the assistance of institutional crypto investors South Korea will be able to be at par with other countries in economic competitiveness.