Hashed Partners with the Largest Bank in Korea, KB Kookmin Bank, to Lead Digital Assets Industry
On August 6, 2020, Hashed formed a strategic partnership with KB Kookmin Bank, Haechi Labs and Cumberland Korea to advance the emerging market for digital assets in South Korea. Their cooperation around fundamental technologies such as blockchain will entail managing and storing digital assets, advocating for optimal regulatory developments, and transforming the traditional financial sector.
The timely announcement comes at the backdrop of the recent approval by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for US banks to provide custody services for digital assets. With other major countries such as China and Japan joining the global arms race for central bank digital currency (CBDC), there is an increasing demand among financial institutions to gain exposure in blockchain based financial assets and services.
In March 2020, South Korea amended the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Information to recognize digital assets for the first time and recently classified them to be taxable. These changes signal a shifting stance of the government that has previously banned domestic ICOs in 2017, and Korea’s four largest banks, including KB Kookmin Bank, have since announced their plans to launch new initiatives involving digital assets.
KB Kookmin Bank, the largest bank of the four, anticipates that the digital asset industry will not only involve cryptocurrencies, but also other traditional assets such as real estate, artwork, and other reified rights that will be issued and traded on blockchain platforms. The partnership, therefore, beckons a start of a long journey in building the necessary technology stack.
Having championed the value of blockchain technology since 2015, Hashed looks forward to working with KB to build South Korea’s blockchain financial infrastructure. Simon Kim, CEO of Hashed, commented, “I welcome this opportunity to collaborate with KB Bank so that South Korea can take the lead in the emerging market of digital assets. Combining our insight in the blockchain industry and providing both technical and commercial consultations will inevitably open new doors to consumers as well as to the country in ushering the new era of digital transformation.”
Hashed
Based in Seoul and San Francisco, Hashed commands global presence in digital asset investments. Operating under the investment thesis that the future economy will evolve from a centralized platform based economy to one that relies on protocol economy underpinned by blockchain, Hashed aims to nurture technological advancements in enabling global access, designing more transparent, direct incentives for network participants, and protecting data sovereignty and privacy for individuals. Notably in South Korea, Hashed has initiated and accelerated Kakao’s public blockchain platform, Klaytn, and Line’s similar counterpart, Link, and engages with the blockchain community by providing a coworking space as well as Hashed Lounge for public meetups.
KB Financial Group
KB Financial Group includes KB Kookmin Bank, which is the largest bank in South Korea ranked by asset value. Owned by the government of South Korea through the National Pension Service, it provides various personal and corporate banking products and services worldwide. The company offers installment savings, time, and demand deposits; personal, mortgage, and deposit-backed loan products; bancassurance services; and mobile and telebanking services. It also provides cash management, as well as custody, bank correspondence, wire-transfer, remittance, foreign currency, FX lounge, and foreign direct investment services.
Haechi Labs
Haechi Labs provides a top smart contract security audit to global clients and offers a wallet service through Henesis to safeguard clients’ digital assets. Based on their audit services, many blockchain projects have successfully listed their assets on Huobi, Upbit, OKEX, and others. Trusted by the industry leaders, Haechi was incubated by Samsung Electronics and awarded the Ethereum Foundation Grants and Ethereum Community Fund.
Cumberland Korea
Cumberland is a specialized cryptoasset trading company within DRW, a diversified principal trading firm with more than 25 years of experience in markets around the world. it provides access that financial institutions and high net worth individuals need to capitalize on opportunities in the cryptoasset space, while working to ensure that the ecosystem continues to grow and evolve in a responsible, sustainable way.
