By Hye-Jin Kim
Even as South Korean officials waver on cryptocurrency regulations, a popular social media app among Korean and Korean-Americans called Kakao, heads full steam ahead.
*Asia Business *recently reported the tech giant plans to integrate the transfer of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocoins in KakaoPay — a payment service launched in 2014 that is similar to Venmo — by the end of this year.
KakaoPay already uses blockchain-based authentication to capture users’ electronic signature for banks and other financial institutions, speeding up and securing mobile transactions. Since its launch just eight months ago, KakaoPay’s blockchain technology has attracted over a million users, according to Yonhap News.
Kakao also runs South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, with an average trading volume of 5 billion won
And last week,* Huffington Post Korea *reported that Kakao would be coming out with its own cryptocurrency later this year. An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for a Kakao Coin would be illegal in Korea so possible alternatives could be Singapore or Hong Kong, Money Today reported.
Rival company Telegram began to prepare for its ICO launch in the United States late last year and claims to have raised $850 million so far in its latest SEC filing
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