Binance Eyes Up South Korea as Next Conquest 🚨 This article is 6 years old...
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Binance Eyes Up South Korea as Next Conquest
2 min read
Updated: Nov. 25, 2019 at 4:24 am UTC
Photo by Timothy Ries on Unsplash
Days after marking its first-year anniversary, leading exchange Binance is reportedly poised to enter South Korea. Seeing more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency traded every day, the South Korean market is the fifth-most active in the world.
While Binance — the world’s largest exchange by trade volume — is yet to issue an official statement. CEO Changpeng Zhou is reported to have highlighted the significance of the Korean market in his keynote speech at the Blockchain Partners Summit in Seoul, July 22, 2018.
Where Binance may be keeping its cards close to its chest, actions tend to speak louder than words. According to a report by Business Korea, Binance has already hired a number of Korean nationals — Jeon Ah-rim as local marketing director and Choi Hyung-won as director of Binance Labs — and plans to launch up to five local corporations in 2018.
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The move may lag behind Binance’s August 2017 addition of Korean language support, yet timing would appear to be calculated — following a string of pro-cryptocurrency regulatory initiatives by the South Korean government, including the recent legal recognition of exchanges such as Binance.
Previously, the market may have been too tough to crack. In early 2018, a wave of trading crackdowns swept the East Asian nation, quelling trade volumes as exchanges were prohibited from offering anonymous trading.
Such regulatory hurdles have posed significant challenges even for local exchanges — those who would presumably be most intimate with Korean law. In May, Upbit — Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange — was raided by police under suspicion of fraud.
The South Korean government appears to be easing its hard-line stance but tabled a series of more accommodating legislation. After announcing lifting its ban on domestic ICOs in May 2018, the South Korean government revealed plans to reduce taxes for blockchain startups.
Friendlier regulation may be music to the ears of Changpeng Zhou, who is no stranger to shifting regulatory frameworks. Shortly after setting up shop in China in 2017, Binance moved operations to Japan in advance of the Chinese government’s ban on cryptocurrency trading — but has since opened offices in Taiwan, and most recently revealed intention to relocate headquarters to Malta.
All questions of regulation aside, Binance will invariably face stiff competition in Korea. Entering a rapidly-maturing cryptocurrency market, the exchange is up against a number of competitors with a first-mover advantage — including Upbit, Bithumb, and China-based Huobi, all of whom command a significant presence in the country.
