SEOUL: Korea Times states that Bithumb, the country’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, and Pay, a mobile payment service provider, have inked a partnership agreement to enable transactions at 6,000 business outlets across the country by the end of the first half of this year. Bithumb also has a partnership with Yeogi Eottae, South Korea’s largest hotel booking platform. Per that agreement, customers can conduct transactions using cryptocurrencies on the site.
The recent set of announcements come after a retreat from strident rhetoric by government officials at the beginning of this year. For example, a government official threatened to ban initial coin offerings but legislation pertaining to the ban was not passed. In February, Choe Heung-Sik, governor of the country’s Financial Supervisory Service, said that it would accept “normal transactions” using cryptocurrencies. While the legal status of cryptocurrencies in South Korea is still unclear, regulators in the country have mostly focused their efforts on preventing its use in criminal activities. Their regulations make it mandatory for exchanges to comply with anti-money laundering laws.
