South Korea’s Second Largest Bank To Support Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Bithumb and Korbit, two most significant crypto-currency exchanges in the Korean marketplace, have announced that Kookmin Bank withdrawals and deposits will be disabled by the end of January. Korbit advised its traders and users that by the end of January, the trade will start accepting deposits and withdrawals from Shinhan Bank accounts rather than Kookmin Bank. The announcement made by Korbit to its customers is: “As previously announced, in order to meet the terms with the identification and money laundering regulations offered by the government, the recent KRW deposit method is going to be terminated by the end of January 2018. To utilize the latest KRW deposit method, which is supposed to be implemented in this month, you must have a Shinhan Bank account enrolled under your name. Please use this time to open bank accounts in Shinhan Bank. We’ll follow up with additional instructions on entering the new KRW withdrawal accounts information on Korbit.” On South Korean trading platforms, every investor is provided with a virtual bank account through which they can withdraw and deposit Korean won, without involving the actual bank accounts. Over the last few weeks, local investors were worried about the unexpected decision of Kookmin Bank, the leading financial institution in South Korea, to shut down virtual bank accounts initiated on South Korean crypto-currency exchanges. They have decided not to encourage crypto-currency exchanges and provide any virtual bank accounts to crypto-currency shareholders. Many dealers feared that other banks could also stick to the decision of Kookmin Bank and detach the financial links to crypto-currency exchanges. With the latest declaration of Korbit, traders have become reassured and started not to panic about the possibility of a crypto-currency trading ban. Earlier, in an official document, the South Korean government stated that it had requested financial institutions and banks within the regulated finance industry to stop providing banking services to crypto-currency exchanges. Effect on South Korean Crypto-currency MarketplacernThis week, many local media outlet reported that a high ranking monetary authority in South Korea declared that the government is planning to permit financial institutions to list “Bitcoin futures”, as the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) did in 2017. The government officials clarified that the listing of “Bitcoin futures” would stabilize the market and allow the Bitcoin exchange market to grow-up by reducing premiums. In upcoming months, the South Korean government will probably roll out practical regulations to safeguard both businesses and investors. In an announcement made in December, a member of the crypto-currency regulation task force said that the government will pursue the regulatory roadmap established by leading markets like Japan and US. Source: http://www.unkrypted.com/south-korea-bank-support-cryptocurrency-exchanges/