OKX Ventures takes 20% stake in Coinone, becomes joint third-largest shareholder
Ecosystem ·
The investment pairs OKX's matching-engine and custody technology with Coinone's twelve years of security operations experience.
OKX Ventures, a subsidiary of OKX, has acquired a 20% stake in South Korean exchange Coinone, making it a joint third-largest shareholder, according to digitaltoday.co.kr. The deal, corroborated by wublockchain.xyz, pairs two exchanges whose chief executives both come from engineering backgrounds.
Coinone founder Cha Myung-hoon, a graduate of Pohang University of Science and Technology's computer engineering program and a former white-hat hacker, has led the exchange for twelve years of security-focused operations. OKX's Star Xu holds a physics master's degree from Renmin University of China and previously worked as an engineer and CTO at Yahoo Beijing. Xu said in a recent interview that Coinone, led by a white-hat-hacker-turned-executive, has security and risk management embedded in its DNA, aligning with OKX's engineering-driven origins.
Both companies emphasized regulatory alignment. Cha said Coinone intends to build synergy with OKX within South Korea's regulatory framework, while Xu noted that Korea has clear rules and that all business activities would be conducted within legal boundaries, respecting Coinone's compliance-first approach.
OKX brings technology accumulated across global markets, including licenses in more than 27 countries including the UAE and Singapore, and 41 consecutive months of published on-chain proof-of-reserves. Earlier this year, OKX secured a $200 million strategic investment from Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, expanding its ties to traditional finance. Coinone plans to integrate OKX's matching engine technology in particular; Xu said at a press briefing last month at Coinone's headquarters that OKX's system handled 1.1 million orders per second without stopping during a global Bitcoin crash last October, and that this capability would be applied to Coinone.
The partnership is also intended to prepare Coinone's custody and internal-control infrastructure for a potential expansion of institutional investor activity in South Korea's digital asset market. Cha said Coinone will work with OKX to build custody infrastructure aligned with global standards in anticipation of a future domestic institutional investor market opening. Specific timelines for the technology integration, along with details of Coinone's other recent capital raises referenced in related coverage, have not been disclosed.