South Korean Banks Deepen Partnerships with Crypto Exchanges, KB Kookmin Bank Renews Contract with Bithumb Despite Incident

Foresight News reports, according to The Korea Times, that despite facing reputational risks, South Korea's banking industry is doubling down on partnerships with cryptocurrency exchanges to address limited loan growth and seek new profit opportunities. Currently, Upbit is partnered with K Bank, Bithumb with KB Kookmin Bank, Coinone with KakaoBank, Korbit with Shinhan Bank, and GOPAX with Jeonbuk Bank. Previously, Bithumb experienced an incident where 620,000 bitcoins were mistakenly airdropped into user accounts, yet KB Kookmin Bank decided to renew its contract with Bithumb for another six months. Data shows that within three months of KB Kookmin Bank's partnership with Bithumb in March 2025, its demand deposits increased by 3.2 trillion KRW (approximately $2.12 billion), with over 1.5 million linked accounts. Currently, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea is seeking to expand its regulatory authority over crypto exchanges, and if the future regulation limiting "one exchange to one partner bank" is relaxed, competition within the banking industry is expected to intensify further.