South Korea’s Coinone Explores Sale of Chairman’s Stake

• A Coinone representative has reported that the firm is talking with prominent overseas exchanges and local financial institutions.
• Shares held by local gaming company Com2uS, which possessed around a 38.42% stake between 2021 and 2022, could also possibly be comprised in any deal. 

The third-biggest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, Coinone, is looking for the sale of shares held by its chairman, as revealed via a report from local news outlet Seoul Economic Daily. 

The exchange is looking for different options to sell a portion of Chairman and biggest shareholder Cha Myung-hoon’s 53.4% stake, as revealed by the report. The holdings of Cha comprise his personal stake of 19.14% and a 3.43% stake owned by his company, The One Group. 

A Coinone representative has reported that the firm is talking with prominent overseas exchanges and local financial institutions regarding potential participation in the sale via equity investments but also highlighted that nothing specific has been decided till now. 

What did the report further mention?

Cha, who formerly was a white hat hacker, has lately returned to active management after a four-month hiatus after his resignation as the Chief Executive Officer. The report mentioned that his return may be associated with the preparations for the stake sale or a bigger deal. 

It further went on to add that shares held by the second-biggest shareholder, local gaming company Com2uS, which possessed around a 38.42% stake between 2021 and 2022, could also possibly be comprised in any deal. 

The advancement comes as Coinone carries on to witness financial pressure. The exchange also witnessed a loss in the past few periods, leaving it with a book value of around 75.2 billion won at the end of Q3. However, this is lower than the last valuation of 94.4 billion won, as per the report. 

The report quoted industry sources and revealed Coinbase may be included in the sale, adding that officials from the U.S. exchange are set to visit South Korea this week to meet with Coinone officials and those from other local companies. 

Any public confirmation of the finalised deal has not been made from the company, and the discussion is still preliminary. 

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