South Korean financial giant Mirae Asset buys 92% stake in Korbit crypto exchange

South Korea's 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 published a disclosure on Friday that it has decided to purchase 26.9 million shares of Korbit for 133.5 billion Korean won ($92.27 million). Following the transaction, Mirae Asset Consulting will hold 92.06% of Korbit's shares, establishing it as the majority shareholder with control over the exchange. 

The shares were purchased primarily from previous major shareholders, including NXC — the holding company of local gaming giant Nexon — and SK Group subsidiaries. SK Planet, the IoT subsidiary, separately disclosed the sale of 9.22 million shares for 45.7 billion won ($31.6 million). The transaction requires regulatory approvals before completion.

Mirae Asset Consulting stated that the purpose of the acquisition is to "secure future growth momentum based on digital assets." According to local news agency Yonhap, the acquisition aligns with the financial giant's "Mirae Asset 3.0" strategy, with plans to aggressively integrate digital assets into its traditional financial services.

Korbit ranks as South Korea's fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, processing around $95 million in the past 24 hours. Upbit, the dominant player in the local market, had $1.8 billion in trading volume in the past day.

Meanwhile, Mirae Asset Financial Group reported last September that it surpassed 1,000 trillion won ($721 billion) in assets under management.

TradFi and crypto

The move comes amid growing consolidation between conventional finance and crypto platforms in South Korea. Last November, South Korean internet heavyweight Naver's financial arm acquired Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, through a stock-swap merger. 

The Yonhap report noted that the recent Korbit deal positions Mirae Asset to benefit from the upcoming era of tokenized securities, which was recently approved by the national legislature.

However, there may be complications ahead for Mirae Asset, as financial authorities are looking to impose strict ownership caps on major shareholders of cryptocurrency exchanges under the forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act, potentially requiring the group to divest a significant portion of its newly acquired 92% stake in Korbit.