Chinese bitcoin exchange to open Korean office
By Kang Seung-woo
A Chinese cryptocurrency giant is set to launch a service in Korea this month.
According to the Korean website of Beijing-based OKCoin, Friday, it will begin a digital asset trading service this month.
To this end, it has picked NHN Entertainment as a potential local partner. NHN, a Korean developer, publisher and distributor of mobile and PC games, said its investment department was reviewing the partnership and an equity investment, but added nothing has been decided yet.
Since the Chinese government closed down its cryptocurrency exchanges in September, OKCoin has turned its attention to other markets, launching cryptocurrency trading platform OKEx.
As part of the move, it established OKCoin Korea in October to start operations in the world’s third-largest digital token market after the United States and Japan. OKCoin was established in 2013.
According to digital currency website Coinhills, OKEx is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange.
The Chinese platform plans to allow more than 60 virtual currencies to be traded in the Korean won, the largest number of crypto coins in Korea. The nation’s top exchange Upbit supports trading of 35 coins, while 12 are available at No. 2 Bithumb.
According to the Chinese company, CEO Chris Lee said OKCoin has decided to start operations in Korea to use the country as a stepping stone to become a global leader, unveiling a plan to hold events to present coins.
As OKCoin has its own transaction system, NHN is anticipated to deal with server operations and customer management.
NHN’s interest in the cryptocurrency sector once again shows the local game industry is increasing its focus on digital tokens thanks to their high applicability, analysts pointed out.
Nexon, the nation’s leading game publisher, took over Korbit, the third-largest exchange, last September. Hanbitsoft, another game publishing and development company, acquired a 25 percent stake in local exchange Coin Zest this month.