Crypto.com Expands Into South Korea Via Two New Acquisitions

As many industry players look to recover from hefty losses, Crypto.com is turning to greener pastures in South Korea.

On Monday, the Singapore-based crypto platform announced the acquisition of PnLink Co. and OK-Bit Co., a payment provider and a digital asset exchange, respectively. 

According to Bloomberg, this means that Crypto.com has also secured a deal with the electronic financial transaction act, an act that creates a “foundation for the sound development of the electronic financial industry,” as well as the right to act as a virtual-asset service provider.

The firm’s chief operating officer Eric Anziani took to Twitter to share the achievement, “I visited our Seoul’s office and met with some of the teammates who contributed to securing our payment and crypto services registrations in South Korea.”

While it is unclear if these approvals and acquisitions will require further regulation, it is a step toward bringing more official approval and security to the industry and to South Korean users. 

The crypto platform has been on quite a world tour of late. In July, Crypto.com received regulatory approval from two European nations, Italy and Cyprus, as the platform looks to expand into Europe. 

CEO Kris Marszalek said that the “registration in Cyprus is the next significant step in our continued progress as we expand our products and services to more customers.”

Crypto.com recently received regulatory approval in Greece from its Hellenic Capital Market Commission, nabbed a virtual asset license in Dubai, and obtained a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Crypto in South Korea

South Korea has been a key market for the crypto industry with high rates of adoption, and, of late, a pro-crypto president Yoon Suk-yeol entering office this year. 

With increased adoption, comes increased regulatory hurdles too. Yoon himself also ran on his January crypto pledge that “we must overhaul regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable.” 

Its Financial Services Commission has also been busy cracking down on money laundering in the country and restricting cross-trading between exchanges. 

South Korea immediately launched a crypto committee to oversee crypto exchanges following the Terra implosion too. 

Regulators have also revived the financial crimes unit “Grim Reapers of Yeoui-do” as part of an investigation into Do Kown, co-founder of Terra Labs, and the broader collapse of the project