Alexander Tkachenko, Founder and Managing Partner of 2be.lu;
Credit: 2be.lu
Luxembourg-based venture capital (VC) fund 2be.lu Investments has announced that its portfolio company, GOPAX, recently became the fifth South Korean accredited crypto exchange.
GOPAX has partnered with Jeonbuk Bank to provide clients with real-name withdrawal and deposit accounts, making the exchange eligible to offer cash-to-crypto services.
Alexander Tkachenko, Founder and Managing Partner of 2be.lu, commented: "I am incredibly proud to support such an outstanding team. GOPAX proves to be a fighter with a strong commitment to being compliant and an exchange that operates with the highest standards. This accomplishment marks the beginning of the next stage of rapid growth for the company."
In an effort to efficiently reduce the risks of market manipulation, South Korean authorities amended new regulations for crypto businesses in September 2021. As a consequence, GOPAX suspended its South Korean Won (KRW) markets. During the suspension of fiat-to-coin trading, GOPAX not only survived but gained momentum with its yield producing GoFi service, which is the most successful crypto deposit programme in Korea, with $500 million (equivalent to €440 million) in assets under management (AUM) as of 31 December 2021. Today, GOPAX has over 800,000 active users.
This banking partnership makes GOPAX the 5th Korean crypto exchange that has fulfilled all the regulator's requirements and allows the portfolio company to restart its fiat-based trading services.
GOPAX CEO Junhaeng Lee commented: "We’re back. We are ever more committed to our mission to recreate Korea’s financial system. We expect to see a considerable momentum in Q1 and Q2, on both the business and product front".
In 2019, 2be.lu invested into Streami Inc., the parent company of GOPAX, with the help of VNX, a Luxembourg-based tokenisation and investment platform. VNX was the first in Europe to complete a VC deal using blockchain with the issue of €1.1M in asset-backed tokens.
