South Korean regulators have reopened their review of Binance’s long-delayed acquisition of local crypto exchange Gopax, suggesting that the world’s largest crypto exchange could soon re-enter the country.
Key Takeaways:
- South Korea’s FIU has resumed reviewing Binance’s acquisition of Gopax, with approval possible by late 2025.
- The review of Gopax’s executive changes effectively serves as a test of Binance’s qualification as a controlling shareholder.
- Binance’s $4.3 billion US settlement appears to have eased South Korean regulators’ earlier AML-related concerns.
According to a Tuesday report from Newsis, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is now reviewing Gopax’s formal report on changes to its key executives, a move tied directly to Binance’s ownership stake, and the review is reportedly progressing favorably.
Approval could come as early as the end of 2025.
Binance’s Fate in Korea Hinges on Executive Review
Under South Korean law, there is no separate system for assessing the suitability of major shareholders in crypto exchanges.
As a result, the FIU’s review of Gopax’s executive changes effectively serves as a vetting process for Binance’s qualification as a controlling shareholder.
Binance first acquired a 67% stake in Gopax in February 2023, becoming its largest shareholder.
The exchange and Gopax jointly filed the executive change report in March 2023, but local regulators froze the approval process over anti-money laundering (AML) concerns.
The delay coincided with Binance’s legal troubles in the US, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) accused the company of unregistered operations and AML violations.
Binance later reached a $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities, which appears to have eased South Korean regulators’ concerns, Newsis said.
Gopax is among the few South Korean exchanges authorized to handle cash-to-crypto transactions, a designation that requires strict compliance with KYC and AML standards.
The platform suffered a major liquidity crisis in early 2023 after its DeFi partner, Genesis Global Capital, froze withdrawals tied to Gopax’s GoFi product.
Following Genesis’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, roughly $47 million (₩56.6 billion) in user funds were left inaccessible.
Binance’s acquisition of Gopax was initially framed as a rescue effort, aimed at restoring customer confidence and injecting funds to compensate affected users.
However, as regulatory hurdles dragged on, Binance reportedly explored selling part of its Gopax stake to local cloud provider Megazone to lower its ownership share, a deal that ultimately collapsed in late 2024, The Bell reported.
South Korea Orders Crypto Exchanges to Halt Lending Services
In August, South Korea’s financial regulator moved to rein in risky lending practices in the digital asset sector, ordering local exchanges to suspend all crypto lending services until a proper regulatory framework is established.
The crackdown came amid South Korea’s broader pivot toward regulated crypto adoption. Authorities are lifting restrictions on institutional trading and preparing to approve the country’s first spot crypto ETFs.
President Lee Jae Myung’s administration is also working on a stablecoin framework pegged to the Korean won, signaling a more open approach to digital finance despite the latest curbs.
More recently, Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, unveiled a new custody service aimed at corporate and institutional clients, as regulatory green lights for virtual asset investments spark growing demand for secure storage solutions.
The service stores all deposited digital assets in cold wallets, entirely offline and insulated from internet-based threats, to shield holdings from cyberattacks and other external breaches.
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