Key takeaways:
- The South Korean cloud service provider Megazone and Binance are allegedly nearing a deal for Binance to sell most of its ownership in Gopax.
- Since the business announced the acquisition in early 2023, there have been several reports about its intentions to cut its position in the South Korean exchange.
The South Korean cloud service provider Megazone and the crypto exchange Binance are allegedly nearing a deal for Binance to sell most of its ownership in Gopax, a local exchange.
The Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean news agency, reported on July 11 that Binance was preparing to sell its 72.6% ownership of the Gopax exchange for as little as 10%.
The report claims that Binance is pushing for the sale of Gopax shares in order to strengthen its governance structure in response to requests from regional financial authorities, citing an unnamed industry insider with ties to Gopax.
Since the business announced the acquisition in early 2023, there have been several reports about its intentions to cut its position in the South Korean exchange. This news about Binance’s anticipated sale of Gopax shares comes after that.
After concluding several operations in the Asian nation in 2021, Binance declared in February 2023 that it had acquired a 72.26% share in Gopax, expressing strong aspirations to reenter the South Korean market.
The decision by the South Korean financial regulators to reject the largest shareholder’s proposal ultimately resulted in the capital injection being halted.
More regulatory mistrust from South Korean authorities in 2023 resulted from Binance’s legal troubles in the US and a lawsuit brought about by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Several weeks ago, Gopax was anticipated to extend its real-name account contract with Jeonbuk Bank in August, but new information regarding the sale has surfaced. August 2022 saw the signing of a two-year real-name account arrangement between Jeonbuk Bank and Gopax. According to reports, the agreement ends on August 11, 2024.
When SBF’s FTX crypto exchange collapsed in November 2022, Gopax was among several crypto companies impacted.
Just a few days after FTX crashed, Gopax was compelled to stop making principle and interest payments in its decentralized financing business, which included goods from the now-bankrupt crypto lending company Genesis Global Capital.
According to reports before the bankruptcy, Digital Currency Group, Genesis’s parent firm, was Gopax’s second-largest stakeholder and a significant business partner, supplying its GoFi product. As of April 2024, Gopax owed 118.4 billion South Korean won ($86 million), according to The Chosun Ilbo.
