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The bank has previously told GOPAX that it wants the exchange’s operator to finalize a takeover deal before it puts pen to paper on a longer-term banking deal.

Under South Korean law, only exchanges that offer real-name banking services via wallet-linked accounts can offer fiat trading. GOPAX’s previous two-year deal with Jeonbuk Bank expired on August 11. The bank had previously warned that it would not renew its deal unless the takeover was completed beforehand.

However, the parties appear to have negotiated a temporary solution, with a new nine-month agreement. The exchange’s fortunes have been rocked by the failure of its crypto management service GoPay in 2022.

A brighter future seemed to be on the horizon when the global market leader Binance bought a majority share in the exchange in February 2023.

However, the regulatory Financial Services Commission (FSC) decided to block this deal, and has ruled that Binance must reduce the size of its holdings from around 70% to 10%.