Major South Korean stock exchange are preparing for the “migration” to other countries in Asia. In a number of platforms, announced the transfer of head offices, are Coinone, Bithumb and Upbit.
Change the country of registration of the business due to the excessively large difference of cryptocurrency prices on Western and South Korean markets. This phenomenon, called “kimchi-premium”, emerged in the market due to the strict policy of the Korean government in respect of digital assets.
In an interview with Quartz development specialist trading operations Coinone Wonsuk Wayne Lee (Wayne Lee Wonsuk) shared the exchange’s plans to transition to another legal field:
“Our main target market is Southeast Asia. In fact, we are trying to accumulate liquidity, and then plan to open a “synthesis” of the enterprise, that is a separate market.”
Coinone already opened a branch in Indonesia and is currently in talks with potential partners in at least two other countries. Business structure Coinone will consist of several sites, the major share of which will belong to the exchange. The parent company is likely to be opened in Malta.
In turn, Bithumb and Upbit announced the transfer of the headquarters in Thailand and Singapore respectively. In both cases, the main factor was the sharp decline in the participation of private traders in the auction, which began after the entry into force of the new rules of customer identification (KYC; “know your customer”) and amendments to the AML / CFT legislation.
Member of the leadership of the South Korean crypto currency exchange who wished to remain anonymous, told Quartz:
“The public image of the Korean exchanges that attempts to create a government is the image of the bandits. I would be happy to say: “these Are the limits in our region.” But it’s not, because there is no optimal supervision.”
In addition, industry representatives are unhappy that officials refused to carry out supervision under special regulations, under which certain small firms are defined as “venture enterprise”. This status has several advantages, including tax benefits.
Unlike Coinone, Bithumb, by contrast, sells its own shares. Last week it became known that the exchange has sold a controlling stake to a consortium of Global BK.