USD 9bn Bitstamp and Korbit Owner NXC to Launch New Crypto Exchange

NXC, the South Korean operator of the Bitstamp and Korbit cryptocurrency exchanges, has launched a new crypto subsidiary, with plans to open a third trading platform.

NXC is the holding company of gaming giant and business group Nexon, and officially unveiled its new Arques subsidiary on March 31, with a view to opening a new exchange platform.

The company will target “global” users, with a focus on “overseas markets,” and NXC says the platform will be “aimed at Millennials and Generation Zrs.”

Per Newsis, NXC said,

“We have made the bold decision to invest in the [cryptoasset] market, interest in which has been gradually rising ever since the global financial crisis of 2008.”

NXC and its owner Kim Jung-ju began crypto-related operations in earnest in September 2017, when the company bought Korbit, one of the “big four” domestic crypto trading platforms. He followed up with the purchase of Bitstamp, Europe’s oldest exchange. The latter is now expanding its business scope in the United States.

NXC has also invested in American crypto brokerage Tagomi.

Kim was on the verge of selling his USD 9 billion-rated company last year, with the likes of Disney thought to have been interested. But he later had a change of heart and decided to instead restructure the business empire.

NXC says the new Arques platform will focus on user-friendliness, and will “lower the threshold of asset management while eliminating the unfamiliarity of jargon and the hassles of trading.”

The holding company has announced that the Arques CEO will be Kim Seong-min, the former head of Nexon’s research unit and a former server development expert at Microsoft.

Arques says that it is currently in the process of hiring trading experts and developers with experience at “leading domestic and foreign IT companies.”