Korea Investment & Securities and OKX Ventures have each acquired a 20% stake in Coinone, Korea’s third largest cryptocurrency exchange, becoming its joint third largest shareholders. The shares involve a combination of existing shares held by Coinone’s two largest shareholders as well as newly issued shares. Korea Investment’s outlay was reported to be in the tens of billions of won (ten billion is $6.5 million).
OKX Ventures is the investment arm of OKX, one of the largest global crypto exchanges. Its involvement brings an international dimension that the recent wave of Korean exchange investments has otherwise lacked. The deal gives Coinone a shareholder structure split between its founder (30.36%), gaming company Com2uS Holdings (24.54%), and the two new investors at 20% each.
The OKX investment also raises questions for Korean regulators. A won stablecoin distributed through an exchange with ties to a major global trading platform could facilitate offshore circulation, precisely the kind of capital flow concern that has driven the Bank of Korea’s insistence on bank-led issuance. That said, OKX’s motivation may be more about tapping into a geography where consumers show a very high affinity to trading, both crypto and securities.
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