S. Korean city official refutes reports of Binance, FTX pulling out of Busan’s crypto exchange project

A Busan city representative has refuted reports that global cryptocurrency exchange Binance and now-bankrupt FTX.com have backed out of their partnership with South Korea’s Busan city to help build its first city-backed crypto exchange.

See related article: South Korea’s Busan city wants to be blockchain central. Did everyone get the memo?

Fast facts

• News1, one of South Korea’s major news agencies, reported Wednesday that Busan’s known blockchain partners Binance and FTX did not appear on the city’s upcoming steering committee for establishing the Busan digital asset exchange, adding that it has confirmed that Binance and FTX will not take part in the business. News1 cited a member of the steering committee.
• A Busan city government representative who has requested anonymity told Forkast that such information is unlikely true, as the city has not finalized its nomination of committee members. He added that neither Binance nor FTX has contacted the city over this issue.
• Binance also told Forkast that the exchange is unaware of pulling away from the partnership with Busan, but declined to further comment.
• Binance partnered Busan in August to help the city establish its digital asset exchange and blockchain ecosystem. The partnership was followed by a similar collaboration with FTX 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.

See related article: Binance says will help Busan city grow blockchain industry from bottom up

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