Binance cryptocurrency exchange is reportedly in the final stages of negotiations with the South Korean cloud service provider Megazone to sell a majority stake in the local exchange Gopax.
Binance is preparing to reduce its 72.6% stake in the Gopax exchange to as low as 10%, South Korea’s news agency The Chosun Ilbo reported on July 11.
Citing an anonymous industry insider related to Gopax, the report suggests that Binance is pushing the sale of Gopax shares to improve its governance structure as requested by local financial authorities.
The sale comes a few weeks before Gopax is expected to renew its real-name account contract with Jeonbuk Bank in August. Jeonbuk Bank and Gopax signed a two-year real-name account contract in August 2022. The contract reportedly expires on Aug. 11, 2024.
Binance acquired a 72.26% stake in February 2023 with high ambitions to return to the South Korean market after wrapping multiple operations in the Asian country in 2021. The capital injection was eventually blocked because the South Korean financial authorities opted to deny the change of the largest shareholder.
Cointelegraph approached Binance for a comment regarding the sale of Gopax shares but did not receive a response at the time of publication.