South Korean crypto exchange Coinone confirmed Friday it has agreed to sell stakes to OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities in a combined 160 billion won ($106 million) transaction, marking one of the largest investments by a global crypto firm into Korea's digital asset sector.
The announcement, released in a joint company statement on May 29, 2026, at 6:07 AM UTC, formalized talks first reported by Yonhap news agency on May 15.
The deal
OKX Ventures — the investment arm of crypto exchange OKX — will invest 80 billion won ($53 million) for a 19.6% stake in Coinone. Korea Investment & Securities (KIS), one of South Korea's largest brokerages, will make an identical investment and also take a 19.6% stake. Each party pays the same price for the same slice of the company.
The transaction will be structured through a mix of secondary share purchases from existing shareholders and subscriptions for newly issued shares. Completion remains subject to regulatory approval.
Upon closing, Coinone CEO Cha Myunghun will remain the exchange's largest shareholder at 27.8% and retain management control. Mobile gaming conglomerate Com2uS Holdings and its affiliates will hold 25%. OKX Ventures and KIS will become joint third-largest shareholders, together holding roughly 39.2% of the company.
The shareholder table, post-close:
| Shareholder | Stake |
|---|---|
| Cha Myunghun (CEO) | 27.8% |
| Com2uS Holdings & affiliates | 25.0% |
| OKX Ventures | 19.6% |
| Korea Investment & Securities | 19.6% |
| Other | ~8.0% |
Why OKX and KIS are buying in
For OKX, the investment extends a long-running push to deepen its presence in regulated markets. Coinone is one of Korea's five licensed crypto exchanges under the country's Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which took effect in 2024 and requires exchanges to hold operating licenses from the Financial Services Commission. A strategic stake gives OKX exposure to that licensed infrastructure without operating a domestic exchange directly.
Korea sits in the top tier of global retail crypto trading volume. The country's retail investor base is large, technically engaged, and active across spot markets at a scale that few jurisdictions match. Entry through an established licensed player is the only realistic path for a foreign firm at this stage of Korean regulatory development.
For KIS, the investment is a signal about where Korea's capital markets are heading. Stablecoins and tokenized securities are the stated growth vectors for Coinone, and both sit directly at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets. A major domestic brokerage taking a 20% stake alongside a global crypto firm is not a passive financial position — it places KIS inside the governance structure of a platform that may process the next generation of Korean securities trading infrastructure.
Korea's stablecoin and tokenized securities push
Coinone's strategic rationale extends beyond spot crypto trading. The exchange has publicly flagged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets as core roadmap priorities.
Korean regulatory conditions are moving in that direction. The government has signaled openness to regulated stablecoin frameworks and has been working through a legislative framework for digital securities. A licensed exchange with both a global crypto backer and a top domestic brokerage as anchor shareholders is well-positioned to apply for expanded mandates in those categories.
The pairing of OKX Ventures and KIS on the same cap table creates an unusual combination: OKX brings offshore liquidity relationships, market-making infrastructure, and crypto-native product experience; KIS brings domestic regulatory relationships, institutional client networks, and tradfi distribution. For Coinone's stablecoin and tokenized securities ambitions, that combination is more useful than either investor alone.
Tradfi-crypto convergence in Korea
The KIS involvement is the element of this deal that stands apart from standard crypto M&A. Large brokerages in Asia have watched crypto market development cautiously. Japanese and Singaporean firms have made selective investments; a top Korean brokerage taking a 20% equity stake in a licensed domestic exchange alongside a global crypto operator is a different level of commitment.
Korea's crypto market has matured significantly since the 2021 cycle. The Virtual Asset User Protection Act created a clearer compliance framework, the Financial Intelligence Unit tightened exchange licensing, and institutional interest has grown accordingly. The Coinone deal is a downstream consequence of that regulatory stabilization — it would have been structurally difficult to execute three years ago.
What comes next
The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval. No closing date has been announced. Once approved, both OKX Ventures and KIS will hold board-level stakes that give them formal roles in Coinone's strategic direction.
The stablecoin and tokenized securities roadmap items are contingent on Korean regulatory developments that have not yet materialized in final legislation. The investment is a bet that they will.
For OKX, the Coinone stake is the latest in a series of moves to anchor the exchange's position in regulated markets across Asia — a strategy that has also included regulatory applications in jurisdictions including the UAE, Hong Kong, and Singapore. A 20% stake in a licensed Korean exchange is a meaningful addition to that footprint, even held through an investment arm rather than a direct operating entity.