Hana Bank & BitGo Partner To Offer Crypto Custody in South Korea

• The commercial bank’s equity is $490M, and its local banking assets are almost $10B.
• Tokenized deposit technology has lately attracted the attention of Hana Bank.

KEB Hana Bank, one of the biggest banks in South Korea, has partnered with BitGo Trust Company, a leading crypto custody provider, to begin providing custody services.

Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, claimed that KEB Hana Bank and BitGo have reached a strategic business deal to build up digital asset custody in South Korea together. The commercial bank’s equity is $490M, and its local banking assets are almost $10 billion across 111 branches.

Boosting Adoption in South Korea

On September 5 during Korea Blockchain Week, a convention for the crypto sector, executives from Hana Bank allegedly made the announcement. BitGo’s custody solutions and Hana Bank’s financial services and compliance know-how will be combined in a new company established as part of the partnership.

An official from Hana Bank stated:

“By promoting digital asset custody business together with global partners, we expect to contribute to strengthening trust in the domestic digital asset market and consumer protection.”

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe has said that the company would concentrate on improving the safety and openness of the digital asset market in South Korea. Online publications have said that the second half of 2024 is when Hana Bank and BitGo would officially launch their joint venture crypto custody firm.

Tokenized deposit technology has lately attracted the attention of Hana Bank as a potential competitive solution to private stablecoins and CBDCs. The bank, together with other local private banks published a paper in July 2023 outlining the so-called “certificate of deposit” tokens that might replace conventional banking systems.

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