Binance is reportedly on the way finalize the last steps to acquire theexchange Crypto Gopax of South Korea. According to local media Decentralizedthe process of due diligence once completed, there would be only a few formalities left to complete for the fifth largest platform in the country, with just 0.1% market share, to become part of the global behemoth. Maybe the key the prospect of competing with Upbit which reigns supreme in the peninsula holding 80% of the volumes transacted crypto.
A Binance/Gopax deal
The deal should have been finalized in December, but last-minute negotiations on the value of the stake delayed the deal. However, the Korean media reveals it Binance would buy a stake from current Gopax CEO Lee Jun-Haeng, who is also the largest shareholder with 41.2% of the company’s shares. This would remain in place for the time being to ensure management stability.
Gopax, like all crypto platforms, has had a tough 2022. In particular, it was hit hard by the turmoil that engulfed cryptocurrency lender Genesis following the collapse of FTX. In fact, it had developed a staking offer in collaboration with the consortium company Digital Currency Group (DCG), which also holds a 14% stake in Gopax.
Binance returns to the South Korean market
In fact, buying Binance could save it, just like would allow platform no. 1 to reconnect with the very closed Korean market. In the spat with local regulators, the giant’s 2020 attempt to launch a Binance KR was quickly halted. And he wasn’t the only one to suffer the wrath of very fussy regulators who, in their repressive guidelines, reproduced the monopolistic model that exists in South Korea’s traditional economy.
In fact, today only 5 native cryptocurrency exchanges have a storefront. Alongside the two previously mentioned we find Bitsum, Coinone and Corbit. But with Binance stepping in, the landscape could change, with the range of options available to investors expanding significantly.
Note, however, that despite a tortuous history, Binance was not entirely absent from the land of morning cool. Last August, the exchange signed a memorandum of understanding with the major port city of Busan to support its ambition to become a crypto/blockchain hub and develop its “Busan Digital Asset Exchange”.
Binance looks to the Asia-Pacific market
When Binance runs into problems with local regulators, its strategy is well honed to go out the window. Thereby The CZ platform often proceeds the same way to penetrate reluctant markets: buyout a company – or shares – having already obtained the precious sesame from the local authorities. As recently as last November, it acquired 100% of Sakura Exchange BitCoin company, thus entering in the Japanese market as an entity regulated by the Japan Financial Services Agency. As an indication, note that Kraken did exactly the opposite, withdrawing from the island of the rising sun due to a difficult context.
In its Asian offensive, Binance also acquired Indonesia’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Tokocrypto, last month.