Bitgo Breaks Into Korea With Hana and SK Telecom in Its Corner

The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit accepted Bitgo Korea’s Virtual Asset Service Provider, or VASP, registration Aug. 18. Bitgo revealed the green light this week, just one day before South Korea slammed the door tighter with tougher entry requirements for cryptocurrency businesses.

Bitgo Takes the Hard Road Into Korea

The registration lets Bitgo Korea provide custody, management and transfer services for virtual assets, along with related intermediation. The client list targets financial institutions, asset managers, corporations and public-sector organizations. What Bitgo did not get is permission to operate a retail cryptocurrency exchange or won-based trading platform.

The real story is how Bitgo got through the door. Instead of buying a Korean company already carrying VASP registration, Bitgo built its local operation from scratch in 2024 and pushed the new entity through South Korea’s full regulatory gauntlet.

That meant installing local anti-money laundering (AML) controls, security systems, and operational infrastructure while securing Information Security Management System certification. In institutional custody, those controls are not paperwork theater because custodians ultimately safeguard the digital keys controlling client assets.

Bitgo Korea CEO Chen Fang stated:

“We chose to establish Bitgo Korea locally and complete the VASP registration process directly because we believe serving Korean institutions requires a long-term commitment to the market and its regulatory framework.”

Hana and SK Telecom Put Muscle Behind Bitgo

Bitgo Korea is hardly walking into the market alone. The South Korean financial giant Hana Financial Group owns approximately 25% of the joint venture, while SK Telecom controls about 10%. Those stakes date to September 2024, following a 2023 digital asset custody agreement between Hana Bank and Bitgo.

The setup pairs Bitgo’s cryptocurrency custody technology with Hana’s financial machinery and SK Telecom’s authentication, identity and security capabilities. More importantly, it gives Bitgo something foreign cryptocurrency companies cannot manufacture overnight: serious local backing paired with direct regulatory approval.

Korea Slams the Compliance Door Tighter

The timing could hardly be sharper. South Korea tightened its VASP requirements this month, widening scrutiny of major shareholders and imposing tougher financial soundness, cybersecurity, staffing, internal control, and customer protection standards.

Under the new financial tests, applicants face a debt-ratio ceiling of 200% and restrictions tied to defaults during the previous three years. Regulators are also digging deeper into controlling shareholders and corporate leadership.

Bitgo slipped through registration two days before those requirements took effect, although the company says its systems were already built around Korea’s increasingly demanding compliance standards.

Bitgo Makes Its Institutional Korea Bet

The Korean registration adds another market to Bitgo’s expanding regulated footprint, which includes operations in the United States, Singapore, Germany, Dubai and New York. Bitgo reported roughly $63 billion in assets on its platform and $11.8 billion in staked assets during the first quarter of 2026.

Now comes the harder part: turning approval into business. Bitgo has not disclosed a launch date, supported assets, fees, or insurance details for its Korean operation. Investors and institutions will be watching how fast Bitgo turns its regulatory beachhead and heavyweight local partnerships into a functioning custody business.