OKX Ventures buys $53 million stake in Korea's Coinone exchange
OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities will each invest 80 billion won in Coinone, pending regulatory approval.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
OKX Ventures and Korea Investment & Securities plan to buy 19.6% stakes each in South Korean exchange Coinone, in a combined 160 billion-won deal. Coinone says the money will support its push into stablecoins and tokenized securities.
Coinone is a crypto exchange in South Korea. Two big money groups want to put a lot of cash into it, each buying about the same-sized piece of the company.
Think of it like two neighbors each buying the same number of slices from a pie shop. The shop still keeps running under the same boss, but now it has more money to grow.
The article says Coinone wants to work more with stablecoins and tokenized securities. Those are ways of using digital money and digital versions of assets, like putting a paper ticket into a computer game inventory.
Analysis
Deal structure
OKX Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange OKX, will invest 80 billion won, or about $53 million, for a 19.6% stake in South Korean exchange Coinone. Korea Investment & Securities, one of South Korea’s largest brokerages, will make the same sized investment for an identical stake. The transaction still needs regulatory approval.
The companies said the total 160 billion-won deal will be split between secondary share purchases from current shareholders and subscriptions for newly issued shares. That means part of the money will go to existing owners, while part will fund Coinone directly through new equity.
After the transaction, CEO Cha Myunghun is expected to stay Coinone’s largest shareholder with a 27.8% stake and keep management control. Com2uS Holdings and its affiliates will hold 25%, while OKX Ventures and KIS will become joint third-largest shareholders.
Why it matters
The deal is notable because it brings a global crypto firm and a major traditional brokerage into the same asset cap table at a South Korean exchange. The article says Coinone is pushing into stablecoins and tokenized securities, so the investment appears tied to businesses that sit between crypto trading and broader financial markets. The report also says the structure formalizes talks first reported earlier in May by Yonhap.
Key points
- OKX Ventures will invest 80 billion won, about $53 million, in Coinone for a 19.6% stake.
- Korea Investment & Securities will make the same-sized investment and take the same stake.
- The combined 160 billion-won deal mixes secondary share purchases and newly issued shares.
- Coinone CEO Cha Myunghun is expected to remain the largest shareholder and keep management control.
- The investment supports Coinone's push into stablecoins and tokenized securities.
