Korea Insurance Training Institute moves to become the country’s first institution to hold Bitcoin…steps up digital-asset management

The Korea Insurance Training Institute has begun procedures to become the first institution in South Korea to hold Bitcoin. It is expected to be the first institutional case since nonprofit entities were allowed to hold digital assets.

On the 20th, the institute said it formed a Digital Asset Review Committee and began phased preparations to hold Bitcoin. Previously, the Financial Services Commission in May last year allowed the issuance of real-name accounts to nonprofit entities such as law enforcement agencies, designated donation organizations, and university foundations.

With this change enabling it to hold a digital-asset wallet, the institute has laid the groundwork to secure Bitcoin.

The newly launched committee plans to prioritize tasks including ▲establishing operating guidelines ▲building a risk-management framework ▲setting accounting and tax standards ▲designing internal-control mechanisms. The move is intended to respond to a new financial order in which artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assets converge.

The committee is chaired by Koo Tae-eon, an attorney at Law Firm Lin (vice president of the Blockchain Law Society). Members include Yoon Sung-ho, a professor at Hanyang University; Park Cheol-young, an adjunct professor at Dongguk University; Son Hye-min, head of academic affairs at the institute’s Crypto School; and Lee Jung-min, head of the management division.

The institute plans to leverage digital-asset payment experience accumulated through operating Crypto School for future asset management as well. Once internal standards are established, it intends to use its stablecoin holdings to secure Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Earlier, the institute ran a pilot project for tuition payments using stablecoins. Last month, it enabled course fees for the “2nd Crypto Literacy Program” to be paid in USDT and USDC, and plans to build a direct wallet-to-wallet payment system going forward.

Ha Tae-kyung, president of the Korea Insurance Training Institute, said, “The launch of the Digital Asset Review Committee will mark a new turning point in asset-management practices in the financial and insurance industries,” adding, “We will develop the institute into a proof-of-concept organization for a new financial model based on AI and digital assets.”