After a mishap at Bithumb involving the erroneous payment of 62 trillion won worth of Bitcoin, KakaoBank and Kbank, which have partnerships with virtual asset exchanges, are closely monitoring the situation and comprehensively reviewing whether to renew their contracts. They are taking into account the possibility that a financial company's reputation could suffer if an incident occurs at a virtual asset exchange.
According to the financial industry on the 13th, KakaoBank is sharing updates on the Bithumb situation with its partner Coinone and identifying areas that require a response. KakaoBank plans to renew its real-name account partnership agreement with Coinone, which is conducted on a yearly basis, in the third quarter of this year. Virtual asset exchanges must partner with banks for real-name accounts to enable won deposits and withdrawals.
Kbank faces the expiration of its real-name account partnership agreement with Upbit in Oct., and is said to be watching the situation to decide whether to renew.
On the 6th, Bithumb planned to pay a total of 620,000 won to 249 event winners, with 2,000 to 50,000 won each, but it entered the payment unit as "Bitcoin" instead of "won," and 620,000 Bitcoins were wrongly paid. However, before recording the transaction history on the Blockchain, Bithumb canceled 618,121 payments, so only 1,788 Bitcoins were actually paid.
Even if an incident occurs at a virtual asset exchange, the likelihood that a financial company providing real-name account services will face sanctions from authorities is low. However, because it is connected through a contract with the exchange, the transfer of reputational risk regarding stability can be a burden.
KB Kookmin Bank, which has a real-name account partnership with Bithumb, is set to renew the contract next month. Kookmin Bank is reportedly demanding stronger internal controls from Bithumb. A bank official said, "We routinely and continuously assess risks with virtual asset service providers. We are sharing information on this matter as well."