The transnational IT-giant IBM has announced it is negotiating with South Korean financial companies possible strategies of integration of the blockchain technology into the national business.

The news is reported by BusinessKorea this morning, though no particular details on the participants have yet been disclosed.

The country is actively involved in the development of bitcoin and blockchain technologies. In February 2016, it was announced that South Korean securities exchange (KRX) was creating an infrastructure to strengthen the off-board trading market. The new trade system was supposed to link over-the-counter sellers and buyers to trade securities directly and help to cut the cost of transactions. KRX is not the only Korean financial organisation interested in the blockchain technology. The Hana Financial Group is currently a member of the biggest global blockchain consortium – R3 CEV.

On 28 February 2015, Bitcoin Center Korea opened its doors becoming a common ground for Korean bitcoin enthusiasts. Among its activities, bitcoin trading programming classes were weekly held in the Center. In December 2015, Seoul hosted “Inside Bitcoins” conference that held a bitcoin start-up competition with five participating companies. At the same time, Korean blockchain start-up Steami that develops blockchain-based solutions for remittances raised $2 million in seed funding. In April 2016, Daishin Securities, one of the oldest and biggest Korean companies specialising in securities and in investment banking, partnered with blockchain start-up Coinone that serves as bitcoin exchange and bitcoin remittances operator. This partnership allows a bitcoin to Korean Won exchange and offers bitcoin wallets to all Daishin Securities customers.

IBM is one of the most active world promoters of blockchain development and integration. In December 2015, IBM together with the Linux Foundation founded the Hyperledger project and two months later, the company announced the launch of its global programme supporting the advance of distributed ledger. In April 2016, it was announced that IBM was working on the integration of blockchain technology into its artificial intelligence platform Watson in order to make the emerging Internet of Things ecosystem more secure.

Anna Lavinskaya