International crypto alternate OKX is in discussions to accumulate roughly a 20% stake in Coinone, one among South Korea’s 5 licensed crypto exchanges, based on a Could 15 report by Yonhap Information Company — a transfer that might mark OKX’s most important strategic foothold in one among Asia’s most lively digital asset markets.
Korea Funding & Securities, one among South Korea’s main brokerage companies, is reportedly pursuing a parallel 20% stake in Coinone below the identical framework, per the Yonhap report as cited by Bloomberg’s Bloomingbit. The 2 events are stated to be in lively discussions, with no deal phrases formally confirmed.
Coinone’s largest shareholder is The One Group at 34.30%, adopted by gaming firm Com2uS Holdings at 21.95%, CEO Cha Myung-hoon at 19.14%, and Com2uS Plus at 16.47%, per the Bloomingbit report. Cha, who based Coinone, can be the biggest shareholder of The One Group.
The Regulatory Opening Behind The Transfer
The reported discussions arrive at a exact second in South Korea’s quickly shifting crypto possession panorama. The nation’s Monetary Companies Fee (FSC) proposed in late December 2025 that main shareholders of home crypto exchanges be capped at 15–20% possession — a regulatory framework explicitly designed to carry securities companies and institutional asset managers into the alternate possession construction for the primary time.
That opening is now being acted on at pace. Earlier offers in the identical wave embody Mirae Asset Consulting’s roughly $96.7 million buy of a 92.06% stake in Korbit and Hana Monetary Group’s roughly $727 million acquisition of a 6.55% stake in Dunamu — the father or mother firm of Upbit, South Korea’s dominant alternate — per Bloomingbit’s market overview.
OKX’s Broader Growth Play
For OKX, the Coinone discussions match a sample of accelerating world institutional positioning. In March 2026, Intercontinental Trade — the NYSE’s father or mother firm — invested roughly $200 million in OKX at a $25 billion valuation and secured a board seat, per Bloomberg’s reporting on the time. The deal included a dedication for OKX customers to finally achieve entry to tokenized NYSE-listed shares and derivatives.
A regulated stake in Coinone would prolong that institutional structure into South Korea — a market the place roughly 30% of the inhabitants, or roughly 15.5 million individuals, held digital property as of 2025, per trade knowledge.
For a world alternate that at the moment lacks Korean Gained help and operates within the nation with no home license, a minority stake in a licensed native venue represents a structurally totally different type of market entry than natural development alone might ship.
This improvement marks a pivotal juncture for the nascent sector’s consolidation section in Asia. As South Korea’s regulatory framework actively reshapes who can personal its exchanges, world gamers with institutional backing are shifting rapidly to safe positions earlier than the possession panorama settles — and OKX seems decided to not be left exterior trying in.
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