South Korea’s biggest neobank and an affiliate of the internet giant Kakao has refused to confirm or deny that it has struck a deal with one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the country, Coinone.
The banking firm’s CEO and leadership stated that it has sealed a deal with Coinone to provide real name-verified fiat on/off ramp accounts to Coinone customers. Reportedly, multiple media outlets claimed that a deal has already been finalized.
Currently, Coinone has a banking deal in place with NongHyup (NH) Bank. However, this partnership is a rolling six-month renewable contract, and sources familiar with the matter claimed that Kakao Bank could take over as early as next month or July.
Recently, Kookmin Bank also took an initiative in South Korea to facilitate netizens with retail investment-based crypto investment products.
Other neobanks including Kakao have previously been skeptical about the idea of dealing with crypto exchanges. However, the political climate appears to be changing fast, considering President-Elect Yoon Suk-yeol minted NFTs to gain support from the crypto community.
The president also stated that three or so crypto exchanges would likely be granted fiat-crypto trading permits in the second half of 2022. With this, five trading platforms have been granted such a license. Without banking deals, crypto exchanges cannot even apply for the necessary permits.
Kakao Bank CEO Yoon Ho-young stated that his bank was positive about the prospect of a deal with a crypto exchange, but made no direct mention of Coinone and didn’t state when clarity on this matter might be forthcoming.
However, Yoon observed that his bank’s customers are investing and managing digital assets among other financial products. He added that Kakao Bank was expanding the scope of customer service experiences through various alliances.
