An official in the South Korean city of Busan said the authorities have received no confirmation that Binance has pulled out of a partnership to establish the country’s first city-backed crypto exchange, as reported by local media.
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Fast facts
- News1, a South Korean news agency, reported Wednesday that Binance was not a member of the Busan committee for setting up the digital asset exchange, citing a member of the committee that it didn’t identify.
- A Busan city government official, who declined to be identified, told Forkast that the city has not finalized who will be on the committee. The official said the city has had no communication with Binance over the issue.
- A Binance official, who also didn’t wish to be identified, declined to comment.
- Binance partnered with Busan in August to help the city establish its digital asset exchange and blockchain ecosystem. The partnership was followed by a similar collaboration with the now bankrupt FTX exchange later the same month.
- Global exchanges Crypto.com, Gate.io and Huobi Global also signed agreements with Busan earlier this year to help the city establish the exchange and its blockchain ecosystem. The three exchanges were not mentioned in the News1 report.
- Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, was designated as a “special blockchain regulation-free zone” in 2019, which allows blockchain developers to pitch projects or ideas to the city government that might be restricted by regulations elsewhere in Korea.
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