South Korea's Third-Largest Exchange Coinone Plans to Sell Major Shareholder Stake, in Talks with Overseas Crypto Exchanges for Potential Investment

Odaily News South Korea's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinone, is exploring the sale of a portion of the company's equity, involving shares held by Chairman and largest shareholder Cha Myung-hoon.

The report states that Coinone is considering various options to sell Cha Myung-hoon's combined 53.4% stake, which includes his personal 19.14% holding and the 3.43% held by his affiliated company, The One Group. Coinone indicated that it has communicated with several major overseas cryptocurrency exchanges and local financial institutions regarding equity investment matters, but "no specific decisions have been made yet."

The report notes that Cha Myung-hoon recently returned to the company's management after resigning as CEO and taking a brief four-month break. His return may be related to preparations for the equity sale and a larger-scale transaction. Furthermore, shares held by the second-largest shareholder—local gaming company Com2Us (which accumulated a 38.42% stake between 2021 and 2022)—may also be included in the scope of the potential transaction.

Financially, Coinone has been reporting consecutive losses in recent fiscal quarters. As of the end of the third quarter, its book value was approximately 75.2 billion won (around $52.2 million), lower than the previous valuation of about 94.4 billion won.

Separately, industry insiders revealed that Coinbase may be interested in participating in this equity transaction. Its executive team is expected to visit South Korea this week for talks with Coinone and other local companies. However, as of now, Coinone has not officially confirmed any concluded deals. (TheBlock)