Kookmin Bank In South Korea To Release Crypto ETFs

The Kookmin Bank in South Korea will soon release a crypto ETF and could become the first organization to release such a product in the coutnry so let’s read furhter in today’s latest cryptocurrency news.

One of the leading financial institutions in South Korea, Kookmin Bank, aims to start offering crypto exchange ETFs and futures products to retail investors and if all goes well, it will become the first local bank to do so. Crypto exchange-traded funds are financial instruments that track the value of the particular asset or the collection of assets so these products allow investors to diversify the holdings without owning any of the tokens.

Most of the ETFs are already based in Canada, Brazil, and Europe. The USA joined the club in October back in 2021 when the ProShares BTC Strategy futures-backed ETF ticked BITO which started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. According to the announcement, South Korea could become the next country to be on the list since Kookmin Bank revealed more plans to launch a financial tool of this kind. The institution formed a unit called “Digital Asset Management Preparatory Committee to work towards the goal.

The bank promised to roll out a new product consisting of digital asset ETFs and crypto-themed equity funds while the KB Head of Index Quant Management Honggum Kim, confirmed the news:

“We will launch a virtual asset-themed equity fund, etc. We plan to publish periodicals as well.”

The South Korean government doesn’t allow for local banks to offer crypto trading services directly but on the other hand, the financial organizations are still able to provide indirect digital asset opportunities via exchange partnerships. It is safe to say that the Asian notion is one of the global leaders speaking of technology and digitization. In the past few months, BTC and other coins attracted many local investors while the NFT universe inside the South Korean borders is thriving as well.

With that being said, the CEO of Korea Exchange Sohn Byung-doo opined that the country should further embrace the industry and estimated that around 5 million locals are digital asset investors while the readily trade volume in the crypto market has rapidly increased. At the same time, the executive order for regulation on the market and such legislation will grant the investors more protection and transaction support:

“Now is the time for exchanges to compete directly with overseas exchanges.”