Delio, South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency financial service provider, said it has become the first Korean company in the crypto lending and depositing field by obtaining Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) approval from the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KFIU). 

VASP approvals are issued to companies by the KFIU after being reviewed by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in Korea. 

Most of the companies that have obtained VASPs are cryptocurrency exchanges, and the rest are cryptocurrency wallets or custody companies. Delio is the only company that has obtained a license as a financial company providing crypto lending and depositing services. 

To conduct business related to crypto-assets such as transactions, transfers and crypto-asset storage in Korea, it must obtain VASP approval and will face legal repercussions if it operates without such approval. 

Delio obtained its Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) certification last year and has built and operated a high-level information security system at the caliber of financial institutions such as Hana Bank. With VASP approval, Delio plans to provide services based on reliability, security and safety under the supervision of the Korean financial authorities. 

Delio is Korea’s largest one-stop cryptocurrency financial service provider and the only company in Korea that operates centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) services. While providing CeFi services such as crypto depositing, lending and vaults, it entered the DeFi market in the second half of 2021. It operates Delioswap, a decentralized crypto exchange, and plans to open an NFT marketplace called BlueBay in March. 

Delio’s crypto-based financial service grew by 600% compared to the previous year. Currently, it is preparing new DeFi businesses with OKX, a global crypto exchange, and integration with Chainlink, the most widely used oracle network. With VASP approval, Delio’s business is expected to expand. 

A Delio official said, “As the first company in the crypto depositing and lending sector certified by the Korean financial authorities, we increase customer trust. In order to leap forward as a cryptocurrency financial platform, we are now planning to continuously acquire crypto-related licenses in more jurisdictions.”