Crypto.com expands in South Korea, looks beyond market route

DIGITAL currency platform Crypto.com unveiled acquisitions in South Korea, pushing ahead with expansion in a bet that digital-asset markets will recover from this year's rout.

The company said on Monday (Aug 18) it had acquired South Korean payment service provider PnLink and virtual-asset exchange OK-BIT, securing registrations under the nation's Electronic Financial Transaction Act and as a virtual-asset service provider.

The statement didn't disclose the size of the deals or whether Singapore-based Crypto.com faces any other hurdles to be able to offer a full suite of services in South Korea.

"We're trying to be able to bring some of our offerings to the Korean market, and also work with partners here that are at the forefront of gaming and entertainment," chief operating officer Eric Anziani said in an interview.

South Korea is prized by digital-asset firms because of comparatively high levels of crypto adoption. But retail-investor faith in the sector was badly shaken by the US$40 billion wipeout in the Terraform Labs ecosystem, including the unravelling of the TerraUSD stablecoin.

The meltdown and other leveraged blowups contributed to this year's more than 50 per cent plunge in the top 100 virtual coins. The sector is only just beginning to pick up the pieces of the punishing shakeout.

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Crypto.com in June said it had received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to provide digital payment token services in the city-state. BLOOMBERG