KB Kookmin Bank Makes Strategic Investment in Digital Asset Management Company

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] KB Kookmin Bank announced on the 26th that it will enter the digital asset market through a strategic investment in Korea Digital Asset (KODA). KODA is a digital asset management company established through investments by Hatch Labs, Hashed, and KB Kookmin Bank.

KB Kookmin Bank invested seeing the growth potential of the related market as the scope of digital assets expands to include virtual assets, game items, digital sneakers, artworks, real estate revenue securities, and central bank digital currencies (CBDC), and services become more visible.

In the long term, it is expected that as tangible and intangible assets become digitized, various financial needs will arise in areas such as safe custody, trading, and investment of these assets. The strategy is to grow KODA into a bank for the digital asset market through experiments with various business models.

Overseas, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) allowed banks to provide virtual asset custody services in July, and recently, DBS, the largest bank in Southeast Asia, announced plans to create a virtual asset exchange, marking the beginning of banks' participation.

In Korea, the Special Financial Transactions Information Act (Special Act on Reporting and Using Certain Financial Transaction Information) will be enforced next year, and taxation on virtual assets is forthcoming. The Bank of Korea is also reviewing the introduction of CBDC, indicating rapid changes in the related market.

A KB Kookmin Bank official stated, "We will create an ecosystem for the digital asset market and discover innovative services with market participants to create growth opportunities together."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.