Crypto-exchange Crypto.com has announced the acquisition of two companies in South Korea in an effort to expand its presence in the Asian country.

A right to act as service providers

On Monday, the Singapore-based crypto platform announced the acquisition of PnLink Co. and OK-Bit Co. a payment provider and a digital asset exchange, respectively.

According to Bloomberg, this means that Crypto.com has also entered into an agreement with the Electronic Financial Transactions Law, an act that creates a “Foundation for the proper development of the electronic financial industry,” as well as the right to act as a virtual asset service provider.

While commenting on this latest development, Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com said;

We are committed to working with regulators to continue to market our products and services, especially in countries like South Korea where consumers have shown strong interest in digital currencies and their use.

Crypto.com COO Eric Anziani added that the crypto-exchange is trying to bring its offerings to the Korean market and also to partner with partners who are on the cutting edge of gaming and entertainment.

Crypto.com has been around since 2016 and is one of the leading crypto-exchanges in the world. The exchange has over 50 million customers worldwide and already has licenses in Singapore, Dubai, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

Crypto-exchanges are known to obtain local licenses by acquiring startups in the countries they intend to operate.

In the UK, Binance and Bitpanda have acquired smaller startups registered under the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s anti-money laundering regime. Thus, enabling crypto exchanges to operate successfully in the UK

Patrick Yoon, managing director, South Korea of Crypto.com, also noted that;

We believe that our services can not only help develop and further strengthen commerce in Korea, but also support the creation and development of our Web3 ecosystem. Korea is an extremely important market for Crypto.com in advancing blockchain technology.

The crypto exchange said it has already received approval in principle for a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, preliminary approval for its virtual asset license from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and a few others.