Shinhan Bank, Korbit and Mirae Asset Securities [provided by each company]
Shinhan Bank, Korbit and Mirae Asset Securities [provided by each company]

With Mirae Asset Group taking over digital asset exchange Korbit, attention is turning to whether the exchange's eight-year real-name account partnership with Shinhan Bank will survive the change in ownership. Industry observers say the relationship could shift if Korbit expands its role as a trading and distribution platform within the Mirae Asset ecosystem.

Korbit has maintained a real-name verified deposit and withdrawal account arrangement with Shinhan Bank since 2018. The two sides renewed the contract in December last year, keeping the partnership intact for eight consecutive years. Given that renewals have typically been made on an annual basis, the end of this year is shaping up as the next major inflection point for the relationship.

A real-name verified account is a banking service that won-market exchanges must secure in order to operate Korean won deposit and withdrawal services. Because it is directly tied to an exchange's operational stability, any change in the partner bank draws nearly as much market attention as a full acquisition.

Within the banking sector, the prevailing view is that Mirae Asset Consulting's acquisition of Korbit will have limited direct impact on the real-name account arrangement. Providing real-name accounts is one of several commercial services banks offer exchanges, and it does not necessarily move in lockstep with a financial holding company's broader digital asset strategy or competitive dynamics between financial groups.

"Real-name account services serve the strategic purpose of expanding the customer base, but profitability — such as firm banking fees — is also an important consideration," one financial industry official said. "Banks do not provide real-name accounts simply because they need to cooperate with an exchange on digital asset business." When banks decide whether to maintain a partnership, concessions, the regulatory environment and anti-money-laundering compliance burdens tend to be the more decisive variables, the official added.

Some voices say the relationship could change if Phase 2 digital asset legislation broadens the scope of participation for existing financial firms. Should the regulatory regime be designed in a market-friendly way, demand could grow within the securities industry to use brokerage accounts as deposit and withdrawal channels for digital asset exchanges.

There is also speculation that Korbit's role could evolve if Mirae Asset Group targets retail customers — those moving assets through what the industry calls "money move" — as the primary audience for its digital asset products. That would open the door to using Korbit not merely as a trading venue, but as a platform for distributing Mirae Asset financial products and connecting customers.

Inside Shinhan Bank, there are signs that the possibility of Mirae Asset's acquisition affecting the partnership down the line is not being ruled out. Rather than predicting an immediate contract change, the bank appears to be preparing additional options depending on how Mirae Asset's business direction and the regulatory landscape develop.

If corporate digital asset trading is fully permitted in the future, the partnership structure between banks and exchanges is expected to grow more complex. Should retail investor won transactions and institutional or corporate digital asset trading operate under different frameworks, exchanges could end up working with multiple financial firms across different business lines.

As financial firms have moved in quick succession to invest in and acquire exchanges, the web of industry interests has grown increasingly tangled. If financial sector realignments around exchanges accelerate in earnest, the existing one-to-one bank-exchange partnership model could also be restructured, observers say. "The industry dynamics are getting very complicated," another financial industry official said. "Each party needs to be ready to adapt to the situation."

Meanwhile, the industry is watching whether Mirae Asset will link Korbit to its global investment platform Maps (Mirae Asset Portfolio Service). Maps is designed to allow trading and management of both traditional financial products — including shares, bonds and exchange-traded funds — and digital assets on a single platform.

Some in the industry have floated a scenario in which Mirae Asset first launches digital asset products in Hong Kong, where regulation is more advanced, and then sells them through the Korbit or Mirae Asset Securities app once domestic rules are in place. "I think it is possible to test products in Hong Kong first and then bring them back to the domestic market once it opens up," one industry official said.


kyoung@heraldcorp.com