Breaking: Binance Selling Its Stake In South Korea’s Crypto Exchange Gopax

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, on Tuesday said it plans to reduce its shareholding in Gopax, one of the largest crypto exchanges in South Korea. Binance acquired majority stake in Gopax to re-enter South Korea’s crypto market in February last year but faced setbacks from South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the U.S. SEC.

Binance Reducing Shares In Gopax

Crypto exchange Binance disclosed plans to sell its shares in Gopax to address issues related to changes in virtual asset business operators (VASPs) reporting requirements, reported local outlet News1 on January 30.

Binance will announce details on reducing shares in Gopax in the next two months. It plans to convert the loan paid as GoFi repayment into equity and sell part of the stake to resolve the issue, along with Gopax’s debt portion.

Steve Young Kim, Asia-Pacific director at Binance, cites the lack of clear guidelines for new virtual asset reporting. He said the reduction in stake is a preemptive measure while seeking meaningful dialogue with financial authorities.

“Gopax’s large debt is expected to be partially resolved through equity-to-equity conversion.” He said, “We expect that we will be able to provide more specific data on the sale of the shares in some form within a month or two.”

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Binance Expansion Into South Korea

Binance was actively looking to re-enter South Korea after its exit in January 2021, as reported earlier by CoinGape. South Korea has one of the world’s largest crypto economies, an excellent talent pool, and a startup community. The South Korean expansion is key for Binance to establish leadership in the next wave of blockchain and web3 developments.

Binance was in the final steps to complete the acquisition deal, but the SEC lawsuit worsened the situation. After the settlement with DOJ and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s exit, Binance’s market conditions are improving gradually. However, the SEC lawsuit against Binance, Binance.US, and CZ still impacting market resilience.

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