Korea Investment Trust Management announced the release of an ETF on the Korea Exchange next year, according to ChosunBiz report.

The Korean ETF will trace the price of bitcoin using Korbit, the largest South Korean bitcoin exchange, wallet and merchant processor, targeting the domestic market. Korea Investment Trust Management is still waiting for the ETF approval from the Korean financial regulator. Korea Investment Trust Management Co., Ltd. (KITMC), based in Seoul, controls assets worth over $20 billion for Korean and global investors.

The Korea Exchange, officially launched in 2005, is the only platform for trading securities in South Korea. It is also the largest derivatives exchange in the world and one of the world's top 20 capital exchange markets. If approved, the ETF will become the world's first ETF operating on a public regulated platform.

CoinFox reported recently that Barry Silbert's Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) started official trading on the OTC Markets Group platform in March after receiving approval from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The BIT left behind the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust announced by Winklevoss brothers to list on NASDAQ as a formal exchange-traded entity, which needs an approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The bitcoin community is growing in South Korea. Bitcoin Center Korea opened its doors on 28 February, offering regular bitcoin meet-ups, bitcoin trading programming classes, and opportunities to try bitcoin services, including exchange to and from Korean Won.

Aliona Chapel