TL;DR
- BitGo obtained a VASP license in South Korea, becoming the first international crypto company to do so.
- The platform’s local entity was built from scratch with Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom as strategic shareholders.
- The KoFIU approval covers custody and digital asset transfer services for institutional and corporate clients.
BitGo became the first global crypto company to obtain a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license in South Korea, according to an announcement by the firm. The authorization was granted by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) and allows the company to offer custody and digital asset transfer services to institutional and corporate clients in one of the most active crypto markets in the world.
Unlike Crypto.com and Binance, which obtained their local VASP licenses by acquiring already-registered entities, BitGo built its Korean division from the ground up, implementing its own frameworks for security, anti-money laundering, and internal controls. The firm already operates regulated units in the United States, Singapore, Germany, and Dubai, and the new Korean entity joins that international network. BitGo Holdings went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) earlier this year with a valuation of $2 billion.
BitGo: Institutional Custody in a High-Demand Market
Hana Financial Group, one of the country’s leading financial conglomerates, and SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, are strategic shareholders of the new entity. Abel Seow, the firm’s regional chief executive, noted that “Korean institutions are looking for infrastructure that combines institutional-grade security with local support and regulatory alignment.”
The retail market in South Korea has shown signs of slowdown: the country’s two largest exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, reported declines in their earnings from retail trading during the first half of the year, in line with the global contraction in volumes.
That pressure on retail shifts attention toward the institutional market, now considered the next growth vector within the local crypto industry. BitGo Holdings shares rose 16% on Wednesday, also driven by the broader recovery in Bitcoin and the crypto market.
