BitGo Clears Regulatory Hurdle with South Korean VASP Registration
BitGo has cleared a significant hurdle in South Korea's increasingly stringent crypto regulations. The company's Korean unit has secured a VASP registration from the country's top financial crime watchdog, allowing it to offer regulated custody and transfer services to banks, funds, and other institutional clients.
The registration is effective as of August 20, 2026, and lets BitGo Korea provide virtual asset custody and transfer services to its institutional clients. This move comes as Seoul tightens anti-money laundering rules, requiring VASPs to run internal suspicious-transaction monitoring on transfers of 10 million won or more.
BitGo's approach is to align with South Korea's local regulatory framework while running its existing global infrastructure underneath it. This means Korean institutional clients get access to the same custody backbone BitGo runs elsewhere, wrapped inside a locally compliant legal structure.