- South Korean crypto custodian BDACS launched institutional XRP custody services following a February partnership with Ripple.
- The move aligns with South Korea’s regulatory framework for institutional crypto adoption and aims to enhance the XRP Ledger ecosystem.
South Korean crypto custodian BDACS has announced the official launch of institutional custody services for XRP, which is a big step in the development of digital asset infrastructure in the country. The release comes after BDACS entered into a strategic partnership with Ripple in February and is a sign of increasing institutional use of cryptocurrency services within the regulated financial industry in South Korea.
Institutional Access Expands Across Major Korean Exchanges
The new custody solution leverages the enterprise-level technology of Ripple Custody, which allows institutions to safely store and manage XRP holdings using compliant channels. BDACS has been integrated with the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, such as Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit, which means that institutional investors have easy access to the trading platforms across the country.
This is in line with the regulatory regime of institutional adoption of cryptocurrency in South Korea, which is described by the roadmap of the Financial Services Commission on digital assets. In particular, the collaboration is expected to enhance the XRP Ledger ecosystem and increase the application of Ripple RLUSD stablecoin to the Korean financial ecosystem.
According to industry analysts, South Korea has the political will to legitimize digital assets as part of the financial infrastructure of the country, and the adoption is being pushed by the government. XRP has become a strong contender as an infrastructure in Asia, especially in Japan, where it has found favour with Japanese banks as a means of international payments.
A recent survey conducted by the Hana Institute of Finance indicates that more than 25% of South Koreans between the ages of twenty and fifty years already own digital assets. They have invested 14% of their total financial assets in cryptocurrency, and the group with the highest adoption rate is those in their forties who have invested 31% in cryptocurrency.
The research shows that there is increased confidence in the use of cryptocurrency as a wealth-building instrument, especially in retirement planning by the older investors nationwide. 70% of respondents said they planned to add to their crypto exposure, and 42% said they would add holdings should traditional banks add their participation in the sector.
Conventional financial institutions are trying to meet this demand, as large Korean banks have recently filed trademark applications on Korean won-backed stablecoins. According to the estimates of Ripple, the cryptocurrency custody services may grow to $16 trillion by 2030, and tokenised assets may comprise 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the whole world.
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