K Bank Extends Partnership with Upbit for One More Year

K Bank has extended its partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit for another year regarding real-name verification deposit and withdrawal accounts. Despite speculation about a potential change in partner banks following Hana Bank's acquisition of a stake in Dunamu, the two companies have decided to maintain their collaboration, which began in 2020.

According to the financial sector on October 5, K Bank announced on October 2 that it would continue to provide services related to the "Upbit Korean Won Trading Support Service Contract" following the Financial Intelligence Unit's approval of Dunamu's registration as a virtual asset service provider.

As a result, K Bank will continue to offer real-name verification deposit and withdrawal account services for Upbit's Korean won trading, as well as manage user deposits in virtual assets. The existing contract expires today, and the new contract period will run from October 6, 2026, to October 5, 2027.

With this contract extension, K Bank and Upbit will continue their real-name account partnership for the seventh year since their initial collaboration in 2020. The contract includes a clause stating that it will automatically renew for one year unless either party expresses a desire to terminate it.

Earlier, there were speculations in the industry that Upbit's partner bank for real-name accounts could change to Hana Bank after it invested approximately 1 trillion won to acquire a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, in May. Hana Financial Group has been expanding its collaboration with Dunamu, including joint development of blockchain-based financial services and a virtual asset price inquiry service within Hana OneQ, which fueled these expectations.

However, with the recent re-contracting, Upbit's partner bank for real-name accounts will remain K Bank for the time being. The two companies have also been discussing expanding their cooperation in the corporate virtual asset trading sector. Kim Min-chan, head of K Bank's Corporate Group, stated during a conference call on July 2 regarding the second-quarter earnings report that they are in discussions with Dunamu about virtual asset deposit and withdrawal transactions for corporations, which are expected to have guidelines released in the second half of the year, and that they will continue to explore business expansion plans.

An industry insider noted, "Since K Bank and Upbit have been connected since the early days when cryptocurrency exchanges were seeking partner banks for real-name accounts, their relationship is quite strong."

Other major banks and cryptocurrency exchanges are also maintaining their existing partnerships through re-contracting. Kakao Bank and Coinone extended their partnership contract for another year in August, while KB Kookmin Bank and Bithumb completed the contract extension process last month.