EXCLUSIVE- NXC, the holding company of $10 billion Japanese gaming corporation Nexon, has acquired an $80 million (91.3 billion Korean won) stake in the second largest cryptocurrency exchange market in South Korea, Korbit.

Nexon’s purchase will award it a 65% stake in the Korean exchange valuated at $150 million, as well as its managing rights. Korbit was also South Korea’s first bitcoin exchange, and, even though it is only the 16th largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, it is well-known as a leading trading platform for non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies.

The move is expected to incite an increase in mergers and acquisitions within the South Korean cryptocurrency sector in the coming months.

Founded in 1994 by Kim Jung Ju, Nexon is a multi-billion-dollar technology titan that has long held a marketable position in South Korea, despite being headquartered in Japan. Its acquisition of Korbit represents a significant investment into cryptocurrency on the part of its holding company, NXC, which is based in South Korea.

Nexon’s procurement of Korbit immediately follows South Korea’s overtaking of the People’s Republic of China in terms of bitcoin trading volume due to the introduction of tighter restrictions on local Chinese cryptocurrency trading, as well as South Korea’s recent legalization of bitcoin.

Since China’s ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, investors have been clamoring to get involved in the South Korean cryptocurrency market. The country has long served as a hot bed for developments in the global cryptocurrency sector, but its neighbor’s recent anti-crypto regulations seems to have increased the number of such developments, of which NXC’s Korbit purchase is only one example.

Japan has similarly experienced an increase in activity in its cryptocurrency sector since China’s exchange ban.  On September 17th, Japan was reportedly the world’s largest bitcoin market, boasting as much as 50.75 percent share of the global exchange market.

Additionally, as previously reported by Bank Innovation, the aftermath of China’s ban coincided with a surge of Japanese interest in producing the J-Coin, a cryptocurrency that would be released in time for the 2020 Japan Olympics, would be “pegged with the Japanese yen,” and which would serve to help “wean” consumers off cash.

The J-Coin is backed by a consortium of Japanese banks, including Japan Post Bank, though it has yet to receive approval from the Japanese regulators.

It is clear that businesses and government-related entities in both Japan and South Korea are poised to benefit from their larger neighbor’s harsh regulatory stances against what is becoming a major asset for both countries’ economic growth: cryptocurrency.  So far, the strategies of both governments, designed to embrace and regulate, rather than to ban cryptocurrencies outright, have made an impact on both of their standing in the global market.

Furthermore, this trend of these two countries using China’s ban to their advantage shows no signs of abating anytime soon. As the Japanese consideration of the J-Coin and the South Korean legalization of bitcoin suggest, both countries are in the cryptocurrency game for the long-haul.

Read more at: CNBC, CoinTelegraph, CryptoCoinsNews, and Ethereum World News.