OKEx Korea is shutting down next month

Crypto alternate OKEx Korea is shutting down on April 7.

In a notice published Tuesday, the alternate mentioned prospects should withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings by the date.

“After the tip of the service, OKEx Korea is not going to be held accountable for any losses arising from failure to withdrawal by prospects,” mentioned the alternate.

OKEx Korea didn’t point out a motive for the closure, but it surely is possible due to a new law that is coming into impact on Thursday in South Korea. Per the legislation, Korean crypto exchanges will not be capable of share their order books with different exchanges.

New anti-money laundering guidelines are additionally coming into drive on Thursday within the nation. Crypto companies have until September to register with the Financial Services Commission, or they’ll face penalties.

After the publication of this story, an OKEx Korea official advised The Block that not solely had been there regulatory points, but in addition enterprise difficulties.

“We struggled to get ISMS [Information Security Management System certificate] and digital account [bank account required to get licensed],” mentioned the official. “As a three way partnership firm with OKEx.com, it was laborious to resolve, however we had no different possibility.”

Binance Korea also shut down earlier this year, after launching in April 2020. OKEx Korea was launched in August 2019 and had meager volumes of round $3.5 million within the final 24 hours, in response to CoinGecko.

Rival Huobi Korea may possible comply with swimsuit. The alternate hasn’t responded to The Block’s queries. It had higher volumes of round $125 million within the final 24 hours, in response to CoinGecko.

Still, these volumes are tiny in comparison with the primary exchanges Huobi and OKEx, which have finished $7 billion and $6 billion price of buying and selling volumes, respectively, within the final 24 hours, per CoinGecko.

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About the Author: Daniel