South Korean regulators have granted a second crypto brokerage with a VASP license, suggesting they could lastly be able to let firms purchase Bitcoin (BTC) and different cryptoassets.
Per Hanguk Kyungjae, the Monetary Intelligence Unit (FIU), has processed the applying of the cryptoasset brokerage platform firm Comfortable Block.
VASP License Approval: Opening the Door to Company BTC Shopping for?
The approval comes scorching on the heels of the FIU’s choice to grant a VASP license to a different brokerage – named Waybridge – in late December final yr.
The FIU operates underneath the auspices of the nation’s high regulator, the Monetary Companies Fee (FSC).
The unit is the one physique within the nation with the facility to grant firms digital asset service supplier (VASP) licenses.
Till the previous few weeks, solely a handful of crypto exchanges have managed to safe VASP permits.
Since Seoul began policing the crypto business in earnest in 2018, all crypto brokerages have needed to shut up store.
Nevertheless, the FSC seems prepared to melt its famously hardline stance on crypto regulation in 2025.
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— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) January 20, 2025
Regulator Speaks of ‘Gradual’ Reform
The FSC has refused to commit itself to crypto deregulation. Nevertheless it has instructed it may “evaluation” its coverage on permitting firms to purchase BTC and different cryptoassets with their steadiness sheets.
The Comfortable Block approval seems to be a step on this path. The agency is “a digital belongings brokerage firm” that launched in Could 2022.
It calls itself a “digital securities firm” and has reportedly been “getting ready digital asset brokerage providers for companies.”
Its high-profile backers embrace SK Securities, and it additionally has partnership offers with abroad gamers like Fireblocks and Kaico.
The agency can be creating a platform for “institutional traders,” with built-in administration, custody, and private crypto pockets providers.
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Corporations Eager on Crypto
The corporate additionally plans to supply over-the-counter (OTC) brokerage providers for crypto orders and “bulk transactions for establishments.”
A variety of South Korean firms are considered eager to purchase BTC and different tokens.
Nevertheless, they’re at present unable to take action, as FSC pointers to banks successfully prohibit monetary establishments from letting company prospects open crypto exchange-linked accounts.
It’s because monetary regulators have dominated that digital belongings “usually are not monetary funding merchandise underneath the phrases of the Capital Market Act.”
Nevertheless, the identical media outlet wrote that the FSC has “been shifting to ease laws associated to digital belongings, albeit slowly, this yr.”
The FSC has acknowledged that it will likely be “gradual” with the method. Trade insiders assume that public our bodies will first be granted the proper to promote crypto donations earlier than different corporations get the inexperienced gentle.
An unnamed South Korean monetary funding business insider instructed the media outlet:
“At the moment, even within the US, conventional securities corporations don’t deal with receiving orders for cryptoassets managed by asset administration firms.”
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Bitcoin ETF Approval Subsequent?
The identical insider added that the transfer may additionally finally see the FSC open the door to Bitcoin spot ETF approval. The supply mentioned:
“If home digital asset ETFs are launched, there’ll naturally be a necessity for our bodies who can execute institutional investor orders. Crypto brokerage firms have been getting ready for that very position. I imagine the FSC accredited the [VASP application] as a result of it deemed it essential [for Bitcoin ETF approval].”
Nevertheless, the FSC has made cagey statements on calls to approve Bitcoin spot ETFs. Earlier this yr, the FSC Director Kwon Dae-young mentioned that Bitcoin ETF approval could be going “a step too far.”
However Kwon conceded that the federal government was “absolutely conscious of the modifications [in crypto regulation] which might be happening globally.”
In the meantime, Comfortable Block CEO Kim Gyu-yoon mentioned that the agency was “planning to pursue enterprise in step with the coverage path of economic regulators.”
Kim promised to “reply to main points corresponding to investor safety […], anti-money laundering, and taxation points.”
The CEO additionally talked about the necessity to “perform enterprise in accordance” with regulators’ “schedule for introducing spot ETFs.”
The corporate’s look forward to VASP approval has been a protracted one. Round a yr and 5 months have handed since Comfortable Block first submitted its utility to the FIU.
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