Binance re-enters South Korea with GOPAX exchange

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is coming back to South Korea with a new acquisition of the local crypto trading platform Gopax.

Binance has acquired a majority stake in the troubled crypto exchange Gopax, re-entering South Korea after exiting the market two years ago, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 3.

The funding for the transaction reportedly came from a Finance-initiated investment project known as the Industry Recovery Initiative, to which Binance pledged $1 billion.

Binance chief business officer Yibo Ling said that Binance has acquired a “meaningful” equity position at Gopax without disclosing the terms of the deal.

The acquisition comes a few months after Gopax halted withdrawals from certain products in November 2022 amid the collapse of the FTX exchange. According to Ling, Binance plans to spend the new capital into the exchange to enable customer withdrawals and interest payments for Gopax’s yield product GoFi.

“The fundamental thrust of this deal was to support customers and make sure that any customers who want to withdraw their assets have the ability to do so,” Ling stated.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.