KODA Secures Pre-Series A Funding for Digital Asset Custody Expansion
Reading Time: 2 minutesKorea Digital Asset (KODA), a South Korean digital asset custody company, has secured pre-Series A funding from Hashed and Altos Ventures. This investment follows heightened interest in virtual asset custody, spurred by the approval of an ETF in the United States in January.
Founded in November 2020, KODA is a collaboration between KB Kookmin Bank, blockchain investment firm Hashed, and blockchain technology company HAECHI LABS. The company provides custody services, where a third party safely stores and manages virtual assets on behalf of customers, akin to a bank’s role in the virtual asset sector. Internationally, major banks including Goldman Sachs and Citibank are already offering similar services.
In South Korea, since March 2021, KODA has been offering a “one-stop digital asset custody service” for corporate and institutional clients. It is registered as a virtual asset operator with the Financial Supervisory Service‘s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), helping it grow into a leading comprehensive digital finance company. KODA also plans to expand its offerings to include staking, over-the-counter (OTC) trading, and other services.
Oh Moon-seok, a partner at Altos Ventures who co-led this investment round with Hashed, noted, “KODA has built considerable custodial expertise and innovative technology capabilities, achieving over 8 trillion KRW in assets under custody as of December 2023. KODA is set to play a critical role in the institutionalization of digital assets in Korea.”
Kim Seo-jun, CEO of Hashed, commented, “Given the global capital market’s receptiveness to virtual asset ETFs, the institutionalization of digital assets is inevitable. Approval of a domestic Bitcoin spot ETF would significantly boost the demand for custody services among corporations and institutions entering the virtual asset market.”
Cho Jin-seok, CEO of KODA, stated, “This funding will help us prepare for the ‘Virtual Asset User Protection Law,’ set to be implemented in July. We are focused on enhancing our financial stability and technological capabilities to proactively address Bitcoin spot ETFs and expand into the RWA (real-world asset) and STO (security token offering) sectors.”
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