The US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) lawsuit against Binance could hurt the cryptocurrency exchange's business opportunities in South Korea.
A report published by Korea Daily suggests that the country's financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), is reviewing Binance's acquisition of local cryptocurrency trading platform Gopax. Binance, which acquired a majority stake in Gopax in February, intends to re-enter the South Korean cryptocurrency market after a two-year hiatus. The FSC reportedly suspended Gopax's March 7 executive change report, citing the recent SEC lawsuit as a reason. The report details the nomination of three Binance members as Gopax's internal directors , including Binance Asia Pacific CEO Leon Singh Poong.
In Reviewing the Gopax Transaction, The FSC Asserted that It is Difficalt to Accept The Acquisition Reques Time Given The Allegations of Alleged Vilation OFS of Securities Laws and FURTHER DEMANDS BY the Seco Freeze Binance.us Assets. An FSC Executive Said It was Importantantantantantantantant To consider the SEC's lawsuit, adding: "It is prudent to say that the report is under internal review," Binance's acquisition of Gopax is not only the re-entry of cryptocurrency exchanges into South Korea, but also the revival of the struggling local cryptocurrency trading platform. In November 2022, after the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and the bankruptcy of the digital asset financial services company Genesis, Gopax stopped withdrawing principal and interest from its decentralized financial service GoFi.
Genesis' parent company, Digital Currency Group, is reportedly Gopax's second-largest shareholder and the main business partner that provides its GoFi product. The Binance acquisition promises to inject new funds into the Gopax exchange for GoFi's customer withdrawals and interest p ayments. The SEC lawsuit against Binance accuses the cryptocurrency exchange of commingling customer funds and violating various securities laws. The SEC has filed 13 charges against the exchange, its subsidiaries and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao.
