South Korea’s Mirae Asset Takes Majority Stake in Korbit Exchange

• Mirae Asset buys 92% of Korbit, gaining majority control of the crypto exchange.
• The move aims to boost growth in digital assets under the Mirae Asset 3.0 strategy.
• Regulatory limits may force divestment despite plans to expand tokenized finance.

South Korean financial powerhouse Mirae Asset Financial Group is acquiring a controlling stake in Korbit, one of the country’s five major cryptocurrency exchanges.

The group’s consulting arm disclosed that it will purchase 26.9 million shares of Korbit for 133.5 billion Korean won ($92.27 million). Following the acquisition, Mirae Asset Consulting will hold 92.06% of Korbit’s shares, securing majority control over the exchange.

The transaction is primarily sourced from previous major shareholders, including NXC, the holding company behind local gaming giant Nexon, and SK Group subsidiaries. It awaits regulatory approval before it can be finalized. SK Planet, the IoT subsidiary of SK, separately sold 9.22 million shares for 45.7 billion won ($31.6 million).

Driving Digital Growth Through Crypto

Mirae Asset Consulting highlighted that the acquisition aims to “secure future growth momentum based on digital assets”. The move aligns with the financial giant’s “Mirae Asset 3.0” strategy, which envisions integrating digital assets into traditional financial services.

Korbit ranks as South Korea’s fourth-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, handling around $95 million in the past 24 hours, while market leader Upbit processed $1.8 billion in the same period.

For context, Mirae Asset Financial Group reported surpassing 1,000 trillion won ($721 billion) in assets under management last September. This shows the company’s scale and ambitions in the expanding digital finance space.

TradFi Meets Crypto

The Korbit acquisition reflects a trend of consolidation between traditional finance and crypto platforms in South Korea. Last November, Naver’s financial arm acquired Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, through a stock-swap merger, showing growing interest from conventional financial players in digital assets.

The deal positions Mirae Asset to capitalize on the upcoming era of tokenized securities, recently approved by South Korea’s national legislature. Analysts suggest that this could open new avenues for integrating crypto into mainstream financial services.

Despite the strategic promise, Mirae Asset may face challenges. Financial authorities are considering strict ownership caps for major shareholders of cryptocurrency exchanges under the forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act, which could force the group to divest a portion of its newly acquired 92% stake in Korbit.

This highlights the ongoing balancing act for traditional financial institutions entering the crypto space, ambitious growth tempered by emerging regulatory frameworks.

Related: South Korea Cracks Down on Crypto Drug Networks