Binance, a Global crypto exchange, has formally completed its takeover of South Korean-based Gopax, a digital asset platform, paving the way for the giant to return to South Korea’s regulated crypto market.
It was reported by MK News on Wednesday that after a long regulatory review period of more than two years, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea finally gave its nod to the changes in the top management structure of Gopax. After the acquisition of Gopax by Binance, the company had submitted the request for alteration in executives in February 2023.
The deal was held up between 2023 and 2023 due to the local authorities’ worries over the anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and Binance’s legal proceedings in the United States. The FIU’s recent go-ahead is an indication that these problems have been sorted out from the regulator’s viewpoint.
In June 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against Binance for alleged money laundering and operating without necessary licenses. The exchange took a step to settle the disputes by paying $4.3 billion in penalties.
Thanks to the FIU’s nod, Binance’s operations in South Korea can be restarted. The market was left by the company in 2021 due to the strict regulations. This approval is the last obstacle that the exchange had to overcome before it could return to the fourth-largest economy of Asia, which is well known for a large community of retail crypto traders.
Gopax is among the five licensed exchanges in South Korea that are permitted to facilitate cash-to-crypto transactions. The designation entails the most rigorous implementation of know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) standards.
In 2023, Gopax underwent a severe cash flow crisis where its defi partner, Genesis Global Capital, suddenly halted withdrawals after it had filed for bankruptcy because of its link to the FTX collapse. As a result of the event, $47 million of user funds were left inaccessible.
Not long afterward, Binance came to the rescue, buying the controlling interest in Gopax with a plan to bring in fresh money and make good the customer funds that were affected by the GoFi product freeze.
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