South Korea’s Shinhan Bank and Telecom Giant KT Corp Developing a Blockchain Platform

South Korea’s two big giants from the baking and telecom space have come together for developing a new blockchain-powered platform that is built by combining the financial and technological prowess of the two parties together.

This report from Korea Times comes at a moment when South Korea has been preparing some positive guidelines for the growth of its fintech industry while working in coordination with the G20 directives.

Last month in July, KT Corp launched the world’s first commercial telecom blockchain network with a capacity to handle 2500 transactions per second. KT Corp is the first mobile carrier on the planet to launch a network with such huge capacity. Moreover, the company also said that the network could scale to a capacity of 10,000 transactions per second, as the increased capacity will come into play by the end of 2018.

On the other hand, Shinhan Bank will bring its commercial banking expertise to this project with its over $300 billion worth assets. The Korea Times says that this new platform is aimed at enhancing the latest government step of introducing digital vouchers in the country.

This programs aims at spending digital vouchers as cash at different locations in the country. This strategic partnership between the two giants just comes at a time when South Korea is preparing to release an economic stimulus program that could involve this digital voucher scheme.

As a part of the new platform development, Shinhan Bank will play a role of developing account management and payment fulfilment services. KT’s role will be to provide the blockchain infrastructure.

Commenting upon this new collaboration, Shinhan Bank’s Head of Digital Strategy Jang Hyeon-ki said: “Shinhan’s strategic partnership with KT is a part of our efforts to introduce a convergence between finance and ICT. The blockchain technology will upgrade customers’ financial activities to a new level.”

Shinhan Bank has been actively involved with the blockchain industry and related projects since the beginning of 2018. The bank’s Digital Strategy Department has also developed a dedicated research center for the distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The bank is also working on other blockchain projects like developing a integrated certification system and other financial activities that include foreign exchange transactions and wire transfers. While commenting on the new partnership, KT Platform Service director Kim Hak-joon said:

“The partnership with Shinhan Bank will be an opportunity to expand the boundaries of KT’s blockchain technology into the financial sector. KT will continue doing its best in contributing to the nation’s blockchain industry.”