Global cryptocurrency exchange OKX and Korea Investment & Securities are reportedly looking to acquire approximately 20% stakes each in Coinone, a cryptocurrency exchange based in South Korea.

 

To maximize capital flow, the acquisition will involve Coinone issuing new equity shares to OKX and its acquisition partner, rather than selling shares held by existing shareholders. Although the acquisition is, for now, just a financial investment, some industry observers have opined that OKX may become more involved in the exchange’s managerial activities in the future.

 

Currently, The One Group, a private investment company managed by Cha Myung hoon, Coinone’s founder, owns about 34.30% of Coinone, followed by Com2uS Holdings, a South Korean gaming firm, which owns 21.95%, and Com2uS Plus, one of its entities, which owns 16.47 percent. Coinone's CEO, Cha Myung-hoon, owns 19.14%.

 

If successful, this will be the third time a global cryptocurrency exchange has acquired a stake in a South Korean exchange. In 2022, crypto exchange Crypto.com fully acquired OK BIT, a small South Korean crypto exchange, while in 2025, Binance acquired a 67% majority stake in Gopax, one of South Korea’s top five crypto exchanges.

 

Crypto Acquisitions on the Rise

The partial acquisition of Coinone by OKX comes at the same time as Hana Bank, one of South Korea’s largest commercial banks, announced a 6.55% stake acquisition in Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea.

 

Kraken, through its parent company Payward, has also agreed to acquire Reap, a payments infrastructure firm based in Hong Kong, for about $600 million, just a few weeks after it acquired Bitnomial for $550 million in April.

 

Several other crypto entities have also been involved in acquisitions, including the crypto exchange Bullish, which acquired Equiniti for $4.2 billion, and MoonPay, which recently acquired Dawn Labs.

 

According to a report from Architect Partners, about 89 crypto acquisition deals were completed in the previous quarter, with approximately $3.2 billion spent on crypto-related acquisitions, a significant increase from the first quarter of 2025, which recorded 61 deals and $2.2 billion in deal value.