Coinone shifts to sole management under CEO Cha Myung-hoon

Coinone, a South Korean virtual asset (cryptocurrency) exchange, said on the 20th that it has ended its co-CEO structure and shifted to a sole management system led by CEO Cha Myung-hoon.

Coinone said it completed the acceptance of a change filing with the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), an affiliate of the Financial Services Commission, on the 19th regarding the appointment of Cha as sole CEO. It then entered a full-fledged sole management system under Cha after follow-up internal procedures, including a board resolution.

Cha is Coinone’s founder and largest shareholder. He became CEO upon the company’s establishment in February 2014 and served as CEO for 11 years until August last year. He later stepped down and, as board chair, focused on setting mid- to long-term technology vision, before returning to management in December as a co-CEO.

Cha’s return as sole CEO reflects recent changes in the internal and external environment of the virtual asset industry. The company said it will simplify its internal decision-making structure to respond more nimbly to external conditions and push ahead at speed with the development of innovative services.

The company also said it has completed a reshuffle of management and key organizations. Early this year, it hired Kim Cheon-seok, chief operating officer (COO), who previously worked at Google and SK, and expanded its marketing organization to a group-level unit. In its technology organization, it promoted tech leader Kim Young-min to chief technology officer (CTO).

A Coinone official said, “This decision was made to respond more nimbly to changes in the market environment at home and abroad,” adding, “Through direct management by the owner, we will speed up decision-making and strengthen competitiveness across all areas, including services and technology.”