South Korea’s KB Kookmin Making Moves To launch Crypto Custody Service

The largest banking firm in South Korea, KB Kookmin, has set itself up to launch a crypto custody service. This service will be for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether (BTC and ETH, respectively).

Trademarking For The Future

The bank has recently filed a trademark application for “KBDAC,” or KB Digital Asset Custody, with the Korean Intellectual Property Office. This was reported on Friday by Digital Today, a local news outlet.

The application itself was filed on the 31st of January, 2020, and indicates that the bank is planning to launch the service quite soon, according to the report. Trademark applications, in general, signifies that the entity has already started developing the branding aspect of services and products. Thus, it’s easy to assume that a lot of the development has already been accomplished.

Planning It Since June

An official from KB Kookmin Bank had told Digital Today that KBDAC was in relation to what the bank had planned on doing with its blockchain startup, Atomrigs Labs, back in June of 2019. However, the company had declined to comment on the launch date for this feature.

KB had partnered up with Atomrigs Lab to develop a crypto custody service, having done so back in June of 2019. Atomrigs Lab specializes in building products that offer secure crypto services. They do so through the use of multi-party computation technology, or MPC.

This cryptographic technology leverages the generation of random key shares instead of using a fixed private key. These key shares are computed and stored separately, deriving an output that allows for collective transaction authorization.

Mountains Of Potential

Even excluding crypto custody services, KB could offer other services that are related to digital assets. For example, they could provide asset management, crypto trading, or overall investment advisory. The door is open for them, so to speak.

Being the largest bank in South Korea, KB Koomin’s adoptions of crypto could stand as a catalyst for widespread adoption across Korea’s financial sector. The bank’s top rivals, like Shinhan, Woori, and Hana, could also get into the market to stay relevant in Korea’s banking arena.

It was only earlier this month when South Korea’s lawmakers had voted to put a stricter anti-money-laundering, or AML, rules for all crypto firms. They did this by amending the existing Financial Information Act. This act mandates the registration of all crypto firms with the applicable regulators in the country.