South Korean lenders Kbank, Nonghyup Bank and Shinhan Bank have decided to extend their affiliations with cryptocurrency exchanges until a crypto exchange law compliance deadline of Sept. 24.
Fast facts
- Kbank’s contract ended in June, and Nonghyup and Shinhan’s end in late July. Instead of renewing their contracts with the exchanges, the three banks have decided to give them a short-term extension.
- The three lenders are the only banks that have signed contracts with four exchanges — Kbank with Upbit, Nonghyup Bank with Bithumb and CoinOne, and Shinhan Bank with Korbit — to provide exchange users with real-name bank accounts for better transparency and security.
- Real-name account contracts are required by South Korea’s crypto exchange regulations. Exchanges unable to obtain such contracts by Sept. 24 will be forced to shut down.
- Kang Seong-hoo, secretary general of the Korea Blockchain Enterprise Promotion Association, told Forkast.News that the extension was intended to allow banks to examine crypto exchanges more thoroughly. Unlike ahead of the signing of contracts previously, banks now need to review trading platforms in accordance with not only their own rules but also strict government regulations.