South Korea’s Busan city announced the steering committee on Monday for building its flagship digital asset exchange, but it didn’t include most of the global exchanges that earlier partnered with Busan for the initiative.
See related article: South Korean official says no confirmation Binance pulling out of Busan city crypto exchange project
Fast facts
- The steering committee includes 18 local blockchain experts, but no representatives of Binance, Crypto.com, Gate.io, or three of the five exchanges that had agreed earlier this year to help Busan establish its first official digital asset exchange. Local media outlets have speculated that the global exchanges have pulled out.
- Huobi Global, one of the original five supporting exchanges, was included in the committee through its Huobi Korea arm. The other supporter was FTX.com that is now bankrupt.
- One member of the steering committee, who didn’t wish to be named, told Forkast that Binance and the other absent exchanges will not be a part of Busan’s crypto exchange development.
- “The problems with FTX and other major global exchanges seem to have influenced [the decision],” the committee member said.
- A Busan city spokesperson, who declined to be named, told Forkast that exclusion from the committee does not mean the global exchanges are no longer working with Busan’s crypto project.
- He said the global partnerships were intended to help provide initial liquidity to the exchange and were not integral to its development.
- A spokesperson for Binance, who also didn’t wish to be named, declined to comment on its involvement in the exchange, but told Forkast its partnership with Busan city is focused on educating city officials about blockchain technology.
- Busan’s cryptocurrency exchange, expected to open in 2023, aims to be a comprehensive digital asset platform that offers trading, token review and listing, market monitoring and custody, according to local media reports.
- Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, was designated as the country’s representative blockchain city in 2019.
See related article: Binance says will help Busan city grow blockchain industry from bottom up