Mirae Asset In Talks To Buy Korean Crypto Exchange Korbit In $100m...

Mirae Asset Group is reportedly in talks to acquire South Korea’s crypto exchange Korbit in a deal valued at up to $100M, according to local media.

Mirae Asset Group is in talks to acquire Korbit, South Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a deal valued at roughly 100 billion to 140 billion Korean won ($70 million to $100 million).

The potential acquisition would be led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of the group, which has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with Korbit’s major shareholders, according to a Sunday report from The Chosun Daily.

Korbit is primarily owned by NXC and its subsidiary Simple Capital Futures, which together hold about 60.5% of the exchange. SK Square owns an additional 31.5% stake.

Korbit holds a full operating license and compliance infrastructure, which could make it an attractive entry point for a major financial group seeking regulated exposure to digital assets.

Related: South Korean regulator misses stablecoin bill deadline: What’s next?

According to CoinGecko data, Korbit’s share of South Korea’s crypto trading market remains marginal compared with its domestic peers. Of the roughly $1.21 billion in total 24-hour trading volume across six Korea-based exchanges, Korbit accounted for just $5.75 million, or well under 1% of total activity.

By contrast, Upbit dominated the market with more than $768 million in daily volume, followed by Bithumb at nearly $298 million and Coinone at about $135 million.

Related: South Korea to impose bank-level liability on crypto exchanges after Upbit hack: Report

As Cointelegraph reported, Naver Financial plans to acquire Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, through a stock-swap transaction valued at about 15.1 trillion won ($10.3 billion). Under the deal, Naver Financial will issue 87.56 million new shares to Dunamu shareholders, making Dunamu a wholly owned subsidiary.

Source: CoinTelegraph