South Korean financial authorities have resumed reviewing Binance’s long-delayed acquisition of local crypto exchange Gopax, signaling that the global exchange could soon re-enter the country’s market after more than two years.
According to a report by local news outlet Newsis on Tuesday, the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) recently resumed its review of Gopax’s “executive change report,” a key step toward formal approval of Binance’s majority ownership. The review, which had been on hold since 2023, is finally moving forward and could be wrapped up by the end of 2025.
Binance became Gopax’s biggest shareholder in February 2023 after purchasing a 67% stake in the exchange. A month later, the two companies submitted an executive change report to the FIU, as required under local rules. But the process came to a standstill for more than two years as regulators were cautious about Binance’s global track record on anti-money laundering (AML) compliance.
Regulatory concerns and U.S. legal issues
The delay was largely tied to Binance’s legal troubles in the United States. Back in June 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the exchange, accusing it of offering unregistered services to American users and misusing customer funds.
Around that time, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury also charged Binance with violating anti-money laundering laws. To settle those cases, Binance agreed to pay a massive $4.3 billion fine — one of the largest in the crypto industry’s history.
These cases made South Korean regulators hesitant to approve any changes linked to Binance’s ownership of Gopax.
Favorable outlook after U.S. resolution
Things have however, changed in recent months. In May 2025, the U.S. SEC dropped its case against Binance and its Co-Founder Changpeng Zhao after the exchange fixed its compliance lapses and cleared all pending fines. This positive outcome seems to have encouraged South Korea’s FIU to restart its review of the Gopax deal.
“While executive changes are simply a report, they have been conducted at the same level as the eligibility review of major shareholders for financial companies, consistent with the financial authorities’ policy,” an unnamed financial industry official told Newsis.
He added, “With all lawsuits related to Binance by the US authorities now dropped, the risk of GOPAX’s major shareholder has also disappeared. It is highly likely that the executive change report will be accepted within this year.”
Pathway to re-entry
Under South Korean law, there is no separate process for screening major shareholders of crypto exchanges. Instead, reports on executive changes serve as an indirect review of a company’s shareholder suitability.
If the FIU grants final approval, Binance could officially return to South Korea’s crypto market by the end of 2025, marking its comeback since shutting down local operations in 2021.
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