Binance secretly sold its South Korean affiliate Gopax’s user deposit claims in Genesis Global for less than half their face value last year, South Korean news outlet Hankyung reported Monday, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Last year, Binance became the largest shareholder of Gopax, one of South Korea’s top five cryptocurrency exchanges. In exchange for purchasing Gopax shares at a discount, Binance promised to fully restore investors' losses from Gopax’s crypto custody service, GOFi, which was exposed to Genesis Global Capital’s collapse in 2022. 

GOFi users collectively lost assets valued at 70 billion Korean won, or $57 million at the time. Gopax and Binance have so far compensated around half of the damages. 

The local report, citing the source familiar with …