South Korea’s Biggest Neobank Reportedly on Verge of Crypto exchange Banking Deal
Kakao Bank, South Korea’s biggest neobank and an affiliate of the internet giant Kakao, has refused to confirm or deny that it has struck a partnership deal with Coinone – one of the four biggest crypto exchanges in the country.
The banking firm’s CEO and leadership gave a presentation to reporters on May 3 amid reports that it has sealed a deal with Coinone to provide real name-verified fiat on/off ramp accounts to Coinone customers. Multiple media outlets – quoting unnamed banking and crypto sector sources – claimed that a deal had already been finalized.
Coinone currently has a banking deal in place with NongHyup (NH) Bank. However, this agreement is a rolling, six-month renewable contract, and industry insiders claimed that Kakao Bank could take over as early as next month or July.
Kakao Bank’s biggest neobanking rival, K-Bank, has partnered with the market-leading exchange Upbit. This partnership has proven almost too successful for K-Bank to deal with, and has propelled K-Bank’s customer base up beyond even the most conservative of estimates.
Other neobanks, Kakao included, have previously been cagey about the idea of partnering with crypto exchanges, but the political climate appears to be changing fast. The political team of the crypto-keen President-Elect Yoon Suk-yeol (who will be sworn in later this month), have already stated that “three or so” crypto exchanges would likely be granted fiat-crypto trading permits “in the second half of 2022.” Thus far, five trading platforms (Coinone included) have been granted such a license. Without banking deals, crypto exchanges cannot even apply for the necessary permits.
Chosun quoted the Kakao Bank CEO Yoon Ho-young as stating that his firm was “positive” about the prospect
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