Coinone's Yeouido office building. [Coinone]
Coinone's Yeouido office building. [Coinone]

Coinone is expected to extend its real-name verified account partnership with Kakao Bank for another year.

According to industry sources Thursday, Kakao Bank and Coinone are in talks to renew their partnership agreement, which expires in mid-August, for one year. The two sides are close to a deal, with no significant gap between their positions.

Ahead of the renewal, Kakao Bank conducted an on-site audit of Coinone in May to review the exchange's anti-money laundering framework and related systems.

Digital asset exchanges must maintain a real-name account partnership with a single bank to operate a Korean won market. Coinone has worked with Kakao Bank since November 2022, when it switched its partner bank from NH NongHyup Bank.

The partnership between Bithumb and KB Kookmin Bank is also likely to be extended. KB Kookmin Bank is reviewing a one-year renewal ahead of the contract's expiration next month. The two companies renewed their agreement in March for a shortened six-month term following Bithumb's bitcoin overpayment incident.


kyoung@heraldcorp.com