Bitcoin is getting stronger, because more and more banks are embracing crypto assets, unlike 5 years ago. The latest news is that KB Kookmin Bank from South Korea (South Korea) is preparing to provide crypto asset services to its customers.
Not long after the Office of the Dollar Currency Supervisory Agency (OCC) in the United States allowed all banks to deposit Bitcoin and other crypto assets belonging to customers, now the 4th largest bank from South Korea is preparing to serve crypto assets owned by its customers.
It is known, the new regulation in South Korea since March 2020 has indeed allowed bank financial institutions to open services related to crypto assets, including regulation of high tax matters.
“On August 6, 2020, Hashed formed a strategic partnership with KB Kookmin Bank, Haechi Labs and Cumberland Korea to advance the crypto asset market in South Korea. This collaboration revolves around fundamental technologies such as blockchain that enable crypto asset management and storage services, " said Hashed, a startup based in Seoul and San Francisco.
KB Kookmin Bank's decision follows the decision of their competitor who is also targeting similar services, namely NongHyup (NH Bank) in July 2020.
However, NH Bank's planned platform will only focus on institutional investors. The Central Bank of South Korea is also said to have set up a "Digital Innovation department" through organizational reforms in the second half of this year.
The department is also closely related to the state agency's decision to accelerate the issuance of digital won in the context of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
One of the concrete steps is the establishment of a Legal Advisory Board to monitor a number of regulations and laws that have the potential to "hinder" the issuance of the digital won.
The intention to issue CBDC also stands out from the advantages of blockchain technology in matters of fast and cheap money transfers (crypto assets / cryptocurrencies), including the agility of the Chinese Central Bank in testing digital yuan since May 2020.
The issue of banks embracing Bitcoin is also reflected in a similar dynamic in Switzerland. The latest news is from Bank Cler, a subsidiary of Bank BKB (Basler Kantonalban).
BKB is included in 8 giant banks in Switzerland with assets of up to US $ 49 billion, part of which is owned by the Swiss government. BK said, starting next year it will provide trading services and custodian (deposit) crypto assets.
According to the bank, the decision stems from the fact that large demand comes from their young customers. They say, their young customers are eager to invest in crypto assets.
Not only BKB who drool about services related to crypto assets. Previously, other banks in Switzerland that have announced crypto asset services, including Seba, Sygnum, Julius Baer and Falcon, include Maerki Baumann which supports Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Litecoin and XRP.
