Binance, a crypto exchange, has bought a majority stake of South Korea’s crypto-exchange GOPAX. Binance’s “Industry Recovery Initiative” provided funding for the acquisition.
This marks Binance’s re-entry into South Korea’s crypto markets after two years. Binance acquired GOPAX, one of the top five South Korean crypto exchanges.
With the GOPAX acquisition, Binance officially re-enters South Korea.
Bloomberg reported that crypto exchange Binance acquired South Korean crypto exchange GOPAX. Binance announced last month that it had completed due diligence in relation to the acquisition of GOPAX.
The final stage of the discussions was reached when Binance wanted to purchase a majority stake from CEO Lee Junhaeng, who holds a 41.2% share in Gopax. Barry’s Silbert’s Digital Currency Group, is the second largest shareholder in GOPAX.
Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, commented on the deal:
“We hope that this step with GOPAX will further build the Korean crypto- and blockchain industry.”
After Binance’s exit in January 2021, the CEO of Binance was actively seeking to re-enter South Korea. South Korea is home to one of the most important crypto economies in the world, a talented talent pool, and a startup ecosystem. This market is still attractive for Binance. Binance’s South Korean expansion is crucial to its leadership in the next wave blockchain and web3 developments.
GOPAX Customers Hit with Genesis Contagion
FTX and Genesis contagion impacted Binance’s GOPAX acquisition deal. Genesis stopped customer withdrawals and redemptions following FTX’s bankruptcy. GOPAX had to repay approximately $47 million to its customers for its wealth management product GoFi. This was affected by Genesis’ decision not to halt redemptions.
Binance will inject capital into GOPAX to allow customers to withdraw money and make interest payments for the yield product GoFi.
Yibo Ling (chief business officer at Binance), stated that the deal’s main thrust was to support customers and ensure that customers can withdraw their assets.
Also read: Binance is increasing its dominance amid Hong Kong’s Crypto Hub plan
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