Key Insights
- Crypto.com is launching its retail trading platform in South Korea on April 29
- The platform will initially offer crypto-to-crypto trading
- South Korea is a key cryptocurrency market, with its five licensed exchanges processing nearly $3 billion in daily trading volumes.
SEOUL (MarketsXplora) – Global cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com is set to launch its retail trading platform in South Korea on April 29, entering one of the world’s most active digital asset markets.
The move will see Crypto.com’s Korean trading service take over the operations of OK-BIT, a locally licensed crypto exchange that is winding down its business after being acquired by the Singapore-headquartered firm last year.
“We are incredibly excited to be launching the Crypto.com App for retail users in South Korea — a market of tremendous importance to the growth of our business, and one in which consumers are very interested in crypto,” Eric Anziani, president and chief operating officer of Crypto.com, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Crypto.com’s South Korean platform, which will be subject to strict regulations governing the country’s crypto exchanges, will initially allow domestic investors to trade cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens on a crypto-to-crypto basis.
However, the exchange aims to eventually secure a partnership with a local bank, a prerequisite for offering fiat-to-crypto trading services under South Korean rules designed to curb money laundering and market manipulation risks.
South Korea is home to a booming cryptocurrency market, with its five fully licensed exchanges – Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax – processing nearly $3 billion worth of crypto transactions over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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At the height of bitcoin’s price rally earlier this year, South Korea’s crypto trading volumes briefly exceeded those of its stock market.
Crypto.com’s entry follows larger rival Binance’s move into the Korean market last year through the acquisition of a majority stake in locally licensed exchange Gopax, which was facing liquidity issues.
However, South Korean authorities have repeatedly postponed approving the ownership change at Gopax amid reported concerns over Binance’s legal troubles in the United States.
South Korea prohibits institutions based within the country from directly investing in cryptocurrencies, restricting Crypto.com’s domestic offerings to retail clients for now.
An official at Crypto.com told South Korean news agency News1 that the company would continue efforts to forge the required bank partnership to ultimately provide a full fiat-crypto trading service.