Crypto Exchanges
By James Thorp
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Why Coinone, Why Now. Coinone isn't the biggest exchange in South Korea — Upbit and Bithumb tend to dominate those…
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Traditional Finance Meets Crypto, Korean Style. The broader trend here is real and it's accelerating.
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What $106M Buys Coinone. From Coinone's side, the math is pretty straightforward.
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OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities are writing big checks. The two firms are each putting in $53 million to grab a combined 19.
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That's not a small bet. South Korea's crypto market is one of the most active in Asia — retail trading volumes there have, at times, rivaled those of much larger markets — but…
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The deal is still waiting on regulatory approval from South Korean authorities.
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Coinone isn't the biggest exchange in South Korea — Upbit and Bithumb tend to dominate those headlines — but it's a significant, established player with a real user base and a…
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KIS's involvement is the part worth watching closely. Traditional South Korean financial institutions have been cautious about crypto. Very cautious.
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It's also worth noting the structure here. Neither firm is taking a controlling stake. At 19.6% combined, they're minority investors.
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The broader trend here is real and it's accelerating. Across Asia, traditional financial firms have been circling crypto exchanges with increasing seriousness.
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More context: The Enterprise AI Bill Is Crushing Budgets: 82% of Costs Vanish Before Launch
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But South Korea is a specific case. The regulatory environment there is genuinely strict. The country passed real-name verification requirements years ago, forcing exchanges to…
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That compliance history is probably a big part of why OKX Ventures and KIS picked Coinone specifically.
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No timeline has been given for when the approval process might wrap up. No further comments from either firm on potential hurdles.
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From Coinone's side, the math is pretty straightforward. Fresh capital from two credible institutional backers — one a global crypto group, one a domestic Korean financial name —…
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