According to latest reports, IBM is holding discussions with South Korean financial companies about how to turn blockchain technology into a business model, Business Korea reported. Further details on the matter are not yet available.

IBM has been spearheading blockchain revolution and is playing a pivotal role in the development of a permissioned blockchain. It is a founding member of the Linux Foundation’s open-source HyperLedger Project - a collaborative effort to establish, build and sustain an open, distributed ledger platform that will satisfy a variety of use cases across multiple industries.

Earlier in February, IBM announced its commitment to make blockchain ready for business. It said that its new blockchain services available on Bluemix – an open standards cloud platform for building, running, and managing apps and services – would enable developers to access fully integrated DevOps tools for creating, implementing, running and monitoring blockchain applications on the IBM Cloud. The IBM Blockchain service on Bluemix is now available in beta.

Blockchain In Korea

Korea has been slowly embracing the blockchain revolution. Recently, Korea Exchange (KRX) announced that its plans to explore the potential of blockchain technology and to develop an over-the-counter trading platform using the technology. Also, KB Kookmin Bank, one of the leading commercial banks of South Korea, announced in February that it has signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Coinplug to develop a new foreign-exchange business model based on blockchain technology.

In February, a report penned by Dong sup Kim of the bank's Payment Systems Research Team, recommended the Bank of Korea to monitor developments going on in the blockchain space and undertake research into the technology. It calls on the financial sector, industry and academia to actively promote the technology’s in-depth research, adding that while government and regulator have to monitor this space due to potential negative impacts and risks, they should create a "comprehensive and flexible regulatory system", so that it does not stifle innovation.