Bitgo CEO: "Hana Financial Group and SKT Participate as Major Shareholders in Korean Subsidiary"

Revealed at 'Korea Blockchain Week 2024'

Global digital asset financial institution BitGo announced on the 3rd that Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom, which newly established BitGo Korea this year, will participate as major shareholders. The photo shows Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, speaking at the 'Korea Blockchain Week 2024 (KBW 2024)' on the 3rd. Photo by BitGo

Global digital asset financial institution BitGo announced on the 3rd that Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom, newly established this year, will participate as major shareholders of BitGo Korea.

Mike Belshe, CEO of BitGo, stated on the same day, "Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom are participating as major shareholders and strategic partners in BitGo Korea, which was established earlier this year."

CEO Belshe made this announcement at the main conference event of 'Korea Blockchain Week 2024 (KBW2024)' held at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul in Gwangjang-dong, Seoul. Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom recently acquired 25% and 10% stakes respectively during BitGo Korea's capital increase process.

Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom have been continuing strategic collaborations in various fields. Both companies are also members of the Next Finance Initiative (NFI) consortium led by Mirae Asset Securities.

Jung Jae-wook, Executive Director of AI-Digital Strategy Headquarters at Hana Financial Group, said, “Hana Financial Group is striving to contribute to the development and revitalization of the virtual asset market by strengthening user protection and providing reliable custody services based on the partnership with BitGo.”

SK Telecom plans to strengthen strategic collaboration with BitGo Korea. SKT will integrate its expertise in authentication, security, and identity verification to support companies targeting individual customers in utilizing BitGo’s services more easily.

Oh Se-hyun, Head of Web3 at SK Telecom, said, “Authentication and security to secure user trust are essential for the full-scale growth of the digital asset market,” adding, “We expect that SK Telecom’s accumulated authentication and security technology will contribute to the custody market in the future.”

This strategic equity participation by Hana Financial Group and SKT holds significant meaning for the institutionalization of virtual assets. Financial institution-level companies related to custody of underlying assets for financial products such as Security Token Offering (STO), Real-World Assets (RWA), and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) are expected to provide infrastructure domestically. In fact, BitGo Korea is currently preparing personnel and physical resources for Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification and applying for Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration.

Lee Young-ro, the newly appointed CEO of BitGo Korea, emphasized, "BitGo will actively introduce its leading technology and operational know-how accumulated in the global market to Korea, contribute to the institutionalization of virtual assets, and take the lead in user protection."

Founded in 2013, BitGo currently holds custody of assets worth approximately $70 billion (about 100 trillion KRW). The cumulative asset processing volume reaches about $3 trillion (about 4,000 trillion KRW). Approximately 20% of Bitcoin (BTC) transactions on the global on-chain network are conducted through BitGo’s infrastructure. BitGo was the first in the world to commercialize and standardize multi-signature technology, which has become the standard for virtual asset wallet technology.