Gopax names former AWS Korea executive Kim Na-young as new CEO

Streami, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Gopax, announced Monday that it has appointed Kim Na-young, former head of financial business development at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Korea, as its new CEO.

Gopax said Kim's appointment will accelerate efforts to normalize operations by resolving the GoFi crisis and to prepare for renewal of its virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration.

Kim holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). At AWS Korea, she supported domestic financial institutions in blockchain and AI-driven digital transformation projects.

She previously served as Bloomberg's Korea representative and, until recently, sat on the operating committee of the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), where she participated in deliberations on major management and risk issues.

"We determined that Kim, with her broad command of both traditional finance and IT, is the ideal person to lead a fundamental transformation of Gopax at a time when digital assets are rapidly entering the mainstream regulatory framework," a Gopax official said.

SB Seker, Binance's head of Asia-Pacific, welcomed the appointment. "Kim Na-young has proven her capabilities in risk management and business development across global IT, traditional finance and public asset management," he said. "Binance will actively support and work closely with the new leadership as Gopax works to regain market trust and reach the next level of growth."

Kim said repaying GoFi customers and restoring normal operations would be her top priorities. "I will concentrate all my efforts first on resolving the outstanding repayment issues for GoFi customers," she said.

She added that a host of challenges remain, including the VASP renewal this year. "But on the foundation of rigorous internal controls and transparent management, I will broaden communication channels with financial regulators and work together with our staff to put Gopax back on track as quickly as possible," she said.

Gopax operated GoFi, a digital asset deposit service, until 2022, entrusting customer assets to global asset manager Genesis Global Capital. When the collapse of FTX triggered a liquidity crisis at Genesis, repayments to GoFi users were suspended. Unrecovered losses for GoFi users are estimated to exceed 170 billion won ($116 million).

kyoung@heraldcorp.com