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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Binance defers Korea plans on regulatory confusion

  • PUBLISHED :January 18, 2018 - 16:03
  • UPDATED :January 19, 2018 - 09:55
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[THE INVESTOR] Binance, the world’s No.2 cryptocurrency exchange in terms of transaction volume, has postponed its plans to open an office in Korea until Seoul fine-tunes the regulatory framework, according to the CEO Zhao Changpeng on Jan. 17.

“Binance is always completely compliant in every country where we operate. We respect the law enforcement agencies and the government because we are here to provide good services, and we don’t want to clash,” Zhao said at a Blockchain conference held in Seoul, adding that Binance respects different national regulations. 


Zhao Changpeng



But he did warn of the consequences of poorly structured rules. “Closed-off regulations are not good. At the same time, it’s also not good for regulations to be too relaxed,” the CEO said

“(Cryptocurrency) exchanges will leave the country and go elsewhere where there are more favorable regulations. Projects will follow them, and related teams will follow the funds, meaning employment will flow out, too,” Zhao said.

Binance has become a popular platform for Korean investors who are increasingly moving their digital coins overseas amid the government’s tightening regulations and the so-called “Kimchi Premium,” referring to how cryptocurrency prices in Korea are higher than the global average.

Contrary to widespread speculation that Korean users account for a significant part of the Binance user-base, Zhao told reporters that they make up only about 1 percent and are the 10th largest group in terms of nationality.

Binance moved out of China when the government ordered a shutdown of exchanges in September 2017.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)

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