Coinbase has refused to comment on reports it is planning to meet the South Korean crypto exchange Coinone in the week ahead, amid reports Coinone’s biggest shareholder is looking to sell up.
Unnamed crypto industry officials told the South Korean newspaper Seoul Kyungjae that Coinbase officials are set to visit South Korea in the week ahead, with talk of a possible “equity investment” mooted. The US crypto exchange giant is set to “hold meetings with major domestic companies, including Coinone,” the sources said.
“Coinbase’s interest remains high due to the size of the South Korean market,” a source told the newspaper. “[South Korean crypto industry parties] are looking for a partner who can create [...] products that adhere to South Korean regulations.”
“We don’t comment on rumours or speculation,” a Coinbase spokesperson told DL News.
The report comes as major businesses look to snap up won-trading South Korean crypto exchanges in a flurry of takeover deals. The whir of activity began in October 2025 when regulators finally approved Binance’s attempt to take over the GOPAX exchange, following a two-and-a-half-year struggle.
Flurry of activity
Coinone, South Korea’s third-largest exchange by trading volume, has been up for sale since late last year, Seoul Kyungjae wrote, with sources saying its CEO Cha Myung-hoon “is already in the process” of selling off “some” of his controlling 53% stake in the firm.
Coinone’s data, published by the same newspaper, shows Cha owns a personal stake of over 19% in the exchange. His own company, the One Group, owns over 34%.
Two subsidiaries of Com2uS Holdings, a South Korean gaming firm, own a combined total of almost 39% of Coinone’s shares.
“We are discussing potential partnerships, including equity investments, with overseas crypto exchanges and domestic financial institutions,” a Coinone spokesperson told the outlet.
However, the same spokesperson claimed that there are currently “no plans in place” to sell Cha’s stake.
The sources appeared to claim otherwise.
“I understand that Coinone was put up for sale either at the end of last year or at the beginning of this year,” a senior figure in the crypto industry, also unnamed, told Seoul Kyungjae. “There’s talk in the industry that sale talks have even reached the due diligence stage.”
Binance’s GOPAX takeover was quickly followed by news that Naver, South Korea’s biggest internet firm, intends to merge with Dunamu, the operator of the market-leading Upbit exchange.
Earlier this month, multiple South Korean media outlets reported that Mirae Asset, a domestic security player with a market cap of around $13 billion, is on the verge of a deal to buy Korbit.
Should all these deals go through, that would leave only Bithumb, the second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume. Bithumb, however, has previously rolled out plans to debut on the New York Stock Exchange in the first half of 2026.
