Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, is returning to South Korea by acquiring a majority stake in the troubled South Korea-based platform GOPAX, this is coming after months of speculation, the Crypto Exchange has confirmed to operate again in South Korea. Yibo Ling, Binance chief business officer, noted that Binance has acquired a “meaningful” equity position at Gopax, without disclosing the terms of the deal.
The funding for the acquisition came from a finance-initiated investment project known as the Industry Recovery Initiative, to which Binance pledged $1 billion. CZ- Binance noted that;
The Industry Recovery Initiative was created to support promising companies that were negatively impacted by the events of last year. We hope that taking this step with GOPAX will further rebuild the Korean crypto and blockchain industry.
Gopax was one of the victims of Genesis Trading which filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Gopax exchange was facing a shortfall of $471M which was locked out, thus leading to bankruptcy. Binance?exchange as committed, used the IRI to save the Gopax investors.
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However, Binance exited the South Korean Cryptocurrency market two years ago due to low usage and regulatory issues, Binance returning and acquiring a majority stake in Gopax is a major milestone in the crypto world. Can’t wait to see the impact th investment in Gopax will have on the market. With the new capital, Binance plans to enable client withdrawals and interest payments for the GoFi performance product.
Press release from Binance
Binance, the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, has invested in GOPAX, a leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchange licensed to provide fiat-to-crypto services to customers, as part of its Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI).
In November 2022, GOPAX halted the withdrawal of principal and interest payments in its decentralized finance (DeFi) service GoFi as a consequence of the upstream challenges experienced by Genesis Global Capital, LLC. Since then, GOPAX has been working closely with local regulators and industry partners in an effort to raise funds to make affected users whole.
Binance recognizes GOPAX’s commitment to its users and shares its goal of raising user protection standards by fostering a sustainable and responsible environment for cryptocurrency investments and trading in South Korea. As part of this transaction, Binance will inject capital into GOPAX with the objective of securing in full any potential GoFi users’ withdrawal requests against all staked deposits, including interest.
Binance will also work closely with GOPAX to improve user education and blockchain awareness through Binance Academy, an open access blockchain and crypto learning portal that provides free educational resources to users. Binance is committed to collaborating with the South Korean regulators and virtual asset stakeholders to explore how Binance can leverage its technology and liquidity to support the local ecosystem.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, said, “Binance has a responsibility to protect our users, as well as our industry. The Industry Recovery Initiative was created to support promising companies that were negatively impacted by the events of last year. We hope that taking this step with GOPAX will further rebuild the Korean crypto and blockchain industry.”
Launched at the end of 2022, the IRI is a co-investment opportunity for organizations wishing to contribute to the future of Web3 by supporting industry players negatively impacted by market forces. Select organizations must show a dedication to innovation and long-term value creation, have a clearly delineated and viable business model, and focus significantly on risk management. In addition to the financial support, the IRI also provides recipients with a comprehensive support plan to help them build a stronger organization.