The deal would be led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial subsidiary, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korbit’s major shareholders.
Mirae Asset Group is in talks to acquire Korbit, South Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, in a deal valued at roughly 100 billion to 140 billion Korean won ($70 million to $100 million), according to a Sunday report from The Chosun Daily.
The potential acquisition would be led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of the group, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korbit’s major shareholders, per the report. Korbit is primarily owned by NXC, the holding company for gaming giant Nexon, which controls about 60.5% of shares. SK Planet holds an additional 31.5% stake following a 90 billion won investment in 2021.
Founded in 2013, Korbit was South Korea’s first crypto exchange and the world’s first Bitcoin-Korean won trading platform. Despite its early-mover status, the exchange currently commands less than 1% of domestic trading volume, according to CoinGecko data. In the past 24 hours, Upbit has dominated the market with more than $716 million in daily volume, followed by Bithumb at roughly $298 million.
Mirae Asset’s decision to route the deal through its consulting arm appears designed to navigate South Korea’s 2017 policy separating financial companies from crypto businesses. Mirae Asset Consulting is the group’s non-financial subsidiary, though it reportedly holds 36.92% of Mirae Asset Global Investments and sits at the top of the conglomerate’s corporate structure.
The talks follow Naver Financial’s confirmation last month of a stock-swap merger with Dunamu, the operator of market leader Upbit. Together, the deals signal growing interest from South Korea’s traditional finance sector in acquiring licensed crypto infrastructure as the country moves toward lifting institutional investment restrictions.
Korbit told Herald Economy there is “nothing we can confirm.” The Block could not immediately reach Korbit or Mirae for comment.
