The parent firm, Streamy, revealed a nett loss of 51.3 billion Korean won ($37 million) for the fiscal year 2023. Gopax is a well-known cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea that is supported by Binance.
The nett loss in 2022 was 90.6 billion won, therefore this is an improvement. In response to improving market mood, Gopax’s sales increased 97% year over year.
Including its balance sheets as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, GOPAX issued a financial statement on April 12. Statements of income, equity changes, and cash flows for the years in question make up the balance sheets.
In the fiscal year of 2023, GOPAX had a nett loss of 51.3 billion Korean won, which is equivalent to $37 million. The company’s overall liabilities were KRW 101 billion more than its total assets as of the end of the reporting period, and its current liabilities were KRW 66 billion more than its current assets.
Deposits held by Genesis Global Capital, which are associated with GoFi, were the primary source of Gopax’s nett losses. Genesis, the company behind Gopax’s crypto custody service GoFi, had a liquidity difficulty in November 2022 as a result of its FTX engagement, which caused it to cease withdrawals. According to the financial report, GoFi has outstanding debts of 63.7 billion won to its consumers.
Gopax had good year-over-year improvement in 2023, even if the nett losses persisted. The exchange’s income shot up dramatically, increasing by 97% to 3.1 billion won. In addition, there was a significant decline in the nett operating loss, which shrank by 78% to almost 17 billion won.
Gopax had better financial performance in 2023 thanks to the return of optimistic optimism in the South Korean cryptocurrency market. Bloomberg reports that in November 2023, the South Korean won surpassed the US dollar as the principal fiat trading pair for cryptocurrencies, indicating that South Korea’s crypto industry continued to be one of the most active on a worldwide scale.
In late 2022, Binance expanded its footprint in the South Korean market by acquiring Gopax, which has liquidity issues. Although Binance had hoped to join the market a year ago, financial regulators have been slow to approve Gopax’s revised virtual asset business report.
After the FTX event affecting Gopax’s virtual asset deposit service, “GoFi,” went down, the company was unable to repay customers, which led Binance to decide to buy Gopax.
With the appointment of Leon Singh Pung, formerly of Binance Asia Pacific, as CEO of Gopax, Binance assumed control of GoFi and its debt. Pung was already the main shareholder. We have repeatedly delayed making a judgement on the acceptance of the report on the change in virtual asset business that we submitted to the FIU.
Despite Gopax’s subsequent appointment of Lee Jung-hoon as CEO and the submission of a new change report, the FIU kept putting off making a judgement.
In light of these difficulties, Binance has begun talks to become the second-largest stakeholder in Gopax by reducing its holdings in the company. Relieving financial costs and regulatory compliance challenges, this strategic shift will be a boon for Gopax. In March, Binance CEO Richard Teng went to Seoul to meet with financial authorities there to discuss these issues.
Binance maintains its position as Gopax’s top stakeholder with a 67.45% ownership as per the last financial report. A representative from Binance, however, has clarified that the exchange’s ownership position in Gopax has not changed and that no new information is available at this time.
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