Local media reports on October 14 indicate that South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has resumed reviewing Gopax’s executive change filing—a move that effectively assesses Binance’s qualifications as a major shareholder. Officials are reportedly viewing the filing favorably, with approval potentially coming by the end of 2025.
Currently, South Korea does not have a dedicated legal framework for evaluating the eligibility of major shareholders in virtual asset exchanges. Instead, regulators rely on executive change reports to determine the suitability of key stakeholders.
Regulatory Roadblocks Delayed Binance’s Entry
Binance initially submitted the executive change report alongside Gopax in March 2023, shortly after acquiring a 67% stake, making it the exchange’s largest shareholder. However, the review stalled due to regulatory concerns over potential risks to South Korea’s anti-money laundering framework, particularly given Binance’s ongoing legal challenges in the United States.
At the time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused Binance of offering unregistered securities and failing to implement proper safeguards for customer assets. The U.S. Department of Justice and Treasury also charged the exchange with anti-money laundering violations, culminating in a multibillion-dollar settlement in late 2023 and the resignation of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
With these issues resolved, and a crypto-friendly administration led by President Lee Jae-myung now in power, South Korean regulators are taking a more open approach to digital asset oversight, which appears to have influenced the FIU’s latest review.
Binance’s Acquisition of Gopax
Binance acquired Gopax in 2023 following a severe liquidity crisis at the exchange, triggered when its DeFi partner, Genesis Global Capital (GGC), froze customer assets linked to Gopax’s GoFi deposit product. GGC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2023 after the FTX collapse, leaving millions of customer funds stranded.
Binance stepped in to inject capital and restore withdrawals, part of a broader industry recovery initiative and an effort to rebuild trust in regional markets. The acquisition also marked a strategic move to re-establish Binance’s presence in South Korea, from which it had exited in 2021.
Gopax is one of only five cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea currently licensed to offer cash-to-crypto services. Under local law, exchanges must follow strict due diligence procedures, and no foreign exchange has yet received this approval.
