Banking Sector's Crypto Accounts and Fee Income Double 'Jump' (Comprehensive)

Banking Sector Coin Fee Revenue 16.97 Billion KRW from April to June
More Than Double the 7.055 Billion KRW in Q1

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] It has been confirmed that the number of real-name accounts and related fee income of three banks maintaining contractual relationships with four cryptocurrency exchanges have doubled in three months. However, most cryptocurrency exchanges without real-name verification accounts at banks are expected to be shut down next month, indicating that future fee income for banks is likely to face limitations.

According to data received on the 10th by Yoon Chang-hyun, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the People Power Party, from the Financial Supervisory Service, the number of real-name verification accounts held by three banks?K-Bank, NH Nonghyup Bank, and Shinhan Bank?trading with cryptocurrency exchanges stood at 6,768,078 as of the end of June. This exceeds five times the 1,336,425 accounts at the end of last year and has doubled compared to 3,796,953 accounts at the end of March this year.

The deposits related to real-name accounts of the four major cryptocurrency exchanges?Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit?that maintain contractual relationships with banks exceed 7 trillion won. This has also increased more than fourfold compared to 1.75 trillion won at the end of last year and has grown nearly 30% compared to 5.91 trillion won at the end of March this year.

Despite the cryptocurrency market showing instability in the second quarter, including a sharp drop in Bitcoin prices, investors have continued to trade actively, resulting in a rapid increase in both the number of real-name accounts and deposits at the four major cryptocurrency exchanges in the banking sector. Accordingly, the fee income from accounts at the contracted banks has also ballooned.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Bank Fees from Cryptocurrency Exchanges in Q2 Reach 16.9 Billion Won... Double Q1

The fee income earned by three banks providing real-name verification accounts to four cryptocurrency exchanges reached 16.97 billion won from April to June. This is more than double the 7.055 billion won earned in the first quarter.

By bank, K-Bank, which has a contract with Upbit, recorded the largest fee income at 12.07 billion won. Nonghyup Bank received 3.103 billion won and 1.454 billion won from Bithumb and Coinone, respectively. Shinhan Bank earned 343 million won in the second quarter through transactions with Korbit.

By September 24, before the expiration of the grace period for the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (Special Financial Transactions Act), cryptocurrency exchanges supporting Korean won transactions must meet requirements such as Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification and securing real-name accounts to report to the Financial Services Commission. Since the financial authorities firmly rejected the 'exemption privilege' demanded by commercial banks last month, despite the expansion of real-name account fee income, additional negotiations for issuing real-name accounts between exchanges and banks have not progressed, making mass closures of exchanges inevitable. It is also uncertain whether the four major exchanges?Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit?will be able to extend their real-name account contracts after September.

In the political sphere, voices are gaining strength to postpone the issuance conditions for real-name accounts for cryptocurrency exchanges by six months until the end of March next year to minimize consumer damage caused by the mass closure of cryptocurrency exchanges.

People Power Party lawmakers Jo Myung-hee and Yoon Chang-hyun have recently proposed amendments to the Special Financial Transactions Act aimed at extending the grace period for cryptocurrency exchange registration. Yoon said, "Compared to the beginning of the year, the number of accounts has increased fivefold and deposit balances have quadrupled, showing that the coin craze has not ended," adding, "We must stably manage the expanded market by enhancing user protection for coin exchanges and ensuring transparent operation of listings and deregistrations."

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