South Korean financial giants want to create a virtual asset exchange in 2023

Samsung Securities, Mirae Asset Securities and Shinhan Financial Investment are among the financial heavyweights in talks with the government to create the exchange.

Samsung Securities is among seven major South Korean securities companies that have applied for government approval to create a virtual asset exchange, according to a report in South Korean publication Newspim. The companies aim to set up a company to open an exchange in the first half of next year. Negotiations on the project are nearing completion, Newspim quoted an unidentified executive as saying. According to local media reports, Samsung Securities has been exploring ways to develop and operate a securities token trading platform but last year failed to hire the necessary staff to move forward. Mirae Asset Consulting, a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Securities, South Korea's largest investment banking and stock brokerage firm by market capitalization, is also hiring staff for cryptocurrency and non-fungible token (NFT) research and development. NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities and Shinhan Financial Investment were also mentioned in the report. KB Bank announced earlier this year that it was preparing to launch South Korea's first crypto investment products for retail investors. The establishment of a so-called virtual asset exchange could be facilitated by regulatory liberalization initiated by the government of Yoon Seok-yeol, who took office in March. According to the report, the securities companies' efforts to create the exchange coincide with preparations to pass the Digital Assets Framework Law, which will cover both security-type tokens and non-security-type tokens and will determine which domestic virtual assets belong to which category. The country's Financial Services Commission has come under criticism in the past for its regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges. Earlier this month, South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit found that 16 foreign-based crypto exchanges, including KuCoin, Poloniex and Phemex, were operating without proper registration and took a number of actions against them, including requesting the blocking of their websites.