Samsung Securities is one of seven major South Korean securities firms that have applied for government approval to create a virtual asset exchange, according to a note from the South Korean publication Newspim. The companies intend to create a partnership to open an exchange in the first half of next year. newspim quoted an unidentified executive saying discussions about the project are winding down.
According to local coverage, Samsung Securities has been studying ways to develop and operate a security token trading platform, and was unable to hire the necessary staff to proceed last year. Mirae Asset Consulting, a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Securities, South Korea’s largest investment bank and broker-dealer by market capitalization, is hiring for research and development of cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
The report also mentions NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities and Shinhan Financial Investment. KB Bank announced earlier this year that it was preparing to launch South Korea’s first cryptocurrency investment products for retail investors.
The creation of a so-called virtual asset exchange may be facilitated by the regulatory liberalization instituted by the government of Yoon Seok-yeol, who took office in March. The impulse of the securities companies to create the exchange coincides with the preparations to approve the Digital Assets Framework Law, which will cover both security and non-security type tokens, and will establish which national virtual assets belong to each category, according to the note. The country’s Financial Services Commission has come under fire in the past for its regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Earlier this monththe South Korean Financial Intelligence Unit found that 16 foreign-based cryptocurrency exchanges, including KuCoin, Poloniex, and Phemex, were operating without proper registration and took a series of measures against them, including requesting that their websites be blocked.
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