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On Saturday, Shinhan Financial Investment announced that they would be offering peer-to-peer (P2P) stock lending using their blockchain platform. The service is expected to be available in late 2019.
When the service goes online it will allow users to make agreements with other users to able to borrow or to lend securities directly. This requires no intermediary of any sort to help conduct the transaction.
Shinhan has reached an agreement with Directional to help build the blockchain-based stock lending service. Directional is a financial services company. Stock lending will be the draw at first, but it is expected that a number of additional services will be made available.
This is clearly not the first use of blockchain-based services provided by Shinhan. At the end of May, Shinhan Bank announced that they had launched a new platform using blockchain technology that would be used for lending applications. The new platform was expected to increase the speed and efficiency of the loan process for consumers.
On July 15, Shinhan Card, the largest credit card company in South Korea and directly linked to Shinhan Financial Services, announced that they had been granted a patent to use a new payment system using this technology. This made them the first financial services company to offer a credit card transaction service that used blockchain exclusively.
Shinhan has been one of the most aggressive institutions when it comes to the use of blockchain technology. South Korea has been actively pursuing sandbox initiatives and this project falls right in line with what the country is looking to accomplish. It also means that Shinhan can work to develop these technologies without much government interference as the Financial Service Commission has removed most regulation related to sandbox technology.
Shinhan is also following a common trend among commercial banks, focusing on blockchain technology advancements over being focused more on crypto assets. While customers are more interested in trying to acquire coins, financial institutions are seeing that blockchain technology affords them new platforms and technologies that can be used in a multitude of areas.
However, Shinhan Bank is not out of the cryptocurrency industry. They are currently renegotiating deposit agreements looking to ensure that there is not a chance for fraud. Korbit is the primary exchange that works with Shinhan, and there is a growing concern among financial institutions related to crypto fraud.
New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.
