Binance Unveils $90M GOFi Fund, Targets Korea Payments — What’s Next?
Binance disclosed a $90.52 million crypto fund secured for GOFi sufferer compensation whereas accelerating its growth by GOPAX, the South Korean trade now below its management, as the corporate prepares to help institutional adoption and construct cost infrastructure in 2026.
The transfer follows years of regulatory delays after Binance acquired a 67% stake in GOPAX in February 2023, with authorities finally approving the ownership change in October 2025 amid broader efforts to place Korea as a worldwide crypto hub.
The growth push comes as Korean regulators progressively raise shadow restrictions on crypto integration in conventional finance, lately ending a nine-year ban on corporate crypto investments and drafting the Digital Asset Basic Act focused for passage this yr.
Binance goals to ascertain infrastructure for institutional treasury administration and cross-border stablecoin settlement, with cost capabilities for abroad guests representing a key focus regardless of home restrictions on crypto-backed transactions.
Institutional Growth and Payment Rails Drive 2026 Strategy
SB Seker, head of Asia-Pacific at Binance, emphasised institutional momentum throughout a video interview with The Korea Times on Friday.
“Twenty-three % of final yr’s world development got here from institutional adoption,” Seker stated.
“We assume the identical will occur if (regulatory) growth takes up in Korea. The uptake will likely be related, if no more.“
Beyond core spot buying and selling and digital asset merchandise, Binance expects Korean corporations to start allocating crypto to their steadiness sheets as soon as rules are clear.
The trade is exploring partnerships with licensed native cost suppliers to allow inbound transactions from abroad guests, a transfer Seker hopes will set a precedent for regulators as home cost restrictions stay in place.
The institutional focus aligns with Binance’s September 2025 launch of Crypto-as-a-Service, a white-label infrastructure resolution offering banks and brokerages with back-end buying and selling, custody, settlement, and compliance instruments.
The platform adopted July’s Institutional Loans rollout, providing verified company shoppers as much as 4x leverage by cross-collateralized credit score traces throughout a number of accounts.
GOFi Compensation Faces Final Administrative Hurdles
GOPAX disclosed the compensation pockets on Thursday after securing regulatory approval for Binance’s govt change submitting final October.
The crypto holdings whole roughly 130 billion received, marking progress on obligations tied to the GOFi interest-paying product that froze roughly 1,000 bitcoins following FTX’s 2022 collapse.
“What we’ve carried out is to show transparency and confidence available in the market that our intention is there,” Seker stated.
However, Korean regulation requires compensation by GOPAX’s steadiness sheet, forcing Binance to first capitalize the corporate earlier than distributions start.
Execution prices related to changing crypto to fiat and again could trigger ultimate distributions to fluctuate with market liquidity and asset costs, although Binance is working to attenuate these prices for GOFi collectors.
“It’s taken us three years to get a change of management. We nonetheless have a couple of hoops to leap by,” Seker famous, including that full shareholder approval from minority shareholders stays pending earlier than the agency can “transfer ahead at full pace with the enterprise.“
Regulatory Framework Takes Shape Amid Market Consolidation
Korea’s crypto regulatory structure is quickly evolving within the wake of Binance’s return.
The Democratic Party’s Digital Asset Task Force lately confirmed that the forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act would require stablecoin issuers to take care of a minimal capital of 5 billion received ($3.5 million), aligning the necessities with these of digital cash corporations.
Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon stated earlier this week that the regulator can also be reviewing 15-20% ownership caps for major crypto exchange shareholders, a part of a shift from a notification system to everlasting authorization standing.
The proposal has drawn pushback from exchanges together with Upbit and Coinone, the place controlling shareholders maintain stakes exceeding 28% and 53%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Korea lifted its nine-year company crypto ban this month, allowing listed firms to take a position as much as 5% of fairness capital in top-20 cryptocurrencies.
At the identical time, the National Assembly additionally passed legislation making a authorized framework for the issuance and buying and selling of tokenized securities, scheduled to take impact in January 2027.
For now, market growth continues by exchanges as Coinbase also weighs an investment in Coinone, whereas Naver Financial agreed to accumulate Dunamu, the operator of Upbit.
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Binance Rolls Out Crypto-as-a-Service – Internalized Trading, Custody, Compliance
South Korea has launched pointers, permitting listed firms {and professional} traders to take a position as much as 5% of their fairness capital crypto.