Korea Digital Asset (KODA), South Korea's largest institutional crypto asset custodian, announced on Thursday that the value of crypto assets it stores increased by nearly 248% in the second half of 2023.
KODA, co-founded by major South Korean bank KB Bank, crypto venture capital firm Hashed, and blockchain technology company Hechirabosu, said in a statement that the value of its assets under custody was approximately 8 trillion Korean won ($6 billion) as of March 2019. ) was announced. It increased from 2.3 trillion won at the end of June 2023 to the end of last year.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin prices rose 38% in the second half of 2023 due to factors such as investor excitement over the launch of the Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the US in January of this year. Bitcoin was trading at around $51,770 as of 5:15pm Hong Kong time on Thursday, up 0.6% in the past 24 hours, according to . The Block price page.of GMCI 30 Index This represents the performance of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, which rose approximately 42.5% in the second half of last year.
Although South Korea currently restricts institutions and companies from directly investing in cryptocurrencies through exchanges, crypto custodians provide institutional investors with a regulated window to manage their crypto assets. are doing.
According to KODA, which cited a report from the Korea Financial Intelligence Agency, the company's market share in the local crypto asset custody sector reached 80% as of the end of June 2023. According to KODA, the company currently serves about 50 corporate customers and manages more than 200 wallets.
Potential of Spot Bitcoin ETF
KODA said in a statement that the demand for crypto custody services is likely to increase further in the future.
Earlier this week, both ruling and opposition party In South Korea, ahead of the general election on April 10th, the country announced plans to launch a local Bitcoin Spot Traded Fund (ETF) as a campaign promise. Both parties also vowed to lift bans restricting institutional investors from investing in cryptocurrencies.
“Considering the flow of global capital markets such as the US and Hong Kong, the institutionalization of digital assets is already irreversible, and if the Bitcoin Spot ETF is approved in South Korea, KODA will play an important infrastructure role. I think so,” Cho Jin said. KODA CEO Sok said in a release.
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