Binance annoys Woori

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, left, and Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok / Courtesy of each company

By Park Jae-hyuk

Conflict has intensified between Binance and Woori Bank, after the China-based cryptocurrency exchange’s Korean operation started using a corporate account issued by the commercial bank for cryptocurrency trading here, according to industry officials, Tuesday.

Binance has used the BxB’s corporate account issued by Woori for virtual assets trading, as it launched the Korean operation in April after taking over BxB, a local fintech firm developing the Korean won-based stablecoins.

In response, Woori decided to suspend Binance’s bank account on April 9, and Binance immediately filed an injunction against the measure.

Although the Seoul Central District Court ruled against Woori’s recent suspension of Binance’s bank account, the litigation is expected to be prolonged as the bank is considering filing an appeal against the decision.

The bank claimed it had suspended Binance’s bank account to comply with the financial regulator’s guidelines that bar corporate accounts from being used for virtual assets trading.

According to the guidelines, banks could also face sanctions from financial authorities if corporate accounts they issued are used for money laundering via cryptocurrency exchanges.

Given that Woori has already been punished heavily by financial regulators over its previous mis-selling of high-risk financial products, the bank will likely make more efforts to cut its link with the cryptocurrency exchange.

“We are considering filing an appeal against the recent decision, and we will tighten our monitoring of Binance,” a Woori Bank spokesman said.

Binance said Woori had suddenly disabled its bank account, although the cryptocurrency exchange had informed Woori on March 30 of its plan to use the bank account for cryptocurrency trading.

“BxB agreed not to use the account for virtual assets businesses when opening the bank account in January 2019,” Binance wrote on its official website. “The agreement, however, also provides that we should inform the bank if we want to use the bank account for virtual assets businesses.”

The company said it will discuss this issue with Woori, so as not to cause further inconvenience to its customers.