Bitcoin firm Coinplug raises $5 million in funding

South Korean bitcoin service company Coinplug has completed a $ 5 million Series B funding round.

The company has received backing from other firms including SBI Group, bringing the total raised to $ 8.3 million.

Joon Hyuk Park, investment director of SBI Group , told CoinDesk that blockchain technology has the potential to transform traditional financial services, coupled with the Coinplug team’s entrepreneurial background and execution capabilities, which led SBI to decide to invest in them.

Coinplug CEO Ryan Uhr said the funding will be used to “ accelerate the development of blockchain-based services , ” adding:

“ In the future, Coinplug plans to provide global remittance services. At the same time, we will focus on developing an efficient and competitive blockchain platform … and provide this platform to most banks in Korea. ”

The company, which operates both a bitcoin exchange and provides a bitcoin wallet, is in discussions with other banks about different blockchain development strategies.

Chief among them was Coinplug ’s new blockchain-based authentication service, which earned the company $ 45,500 at the FinTech Competition, which was held in June this year and sponsored by JB Financial Group.

The company’s statement said Coinplug holds patents for this technology and a number of other blockchain systems that it plans to bring to the global market in the future.

Coinplug ’s CEO concluded: “ We applied for the patent first because we wanted to show other businesses the blockchain-based services we have recently completed and are developing. We also hope that blockchain technology can be more widely used and accepted in Korea.