South Korea’s Upbit Parent Plans Us Ipo After Naver Merger: Report

US investors could soon get exposure to South Korea’s active crypto market, as crypto exchange Upbit’s parent company, Dunamu, reportedly eyes a Nasdaq listing.

Dunamu, the parent company of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, is reportedly looking to debut in the US after it finalizes its merger with local tech giant Naver.

Dunamu wants to launch an initial public offering on the tech-heavy Nasdaq after its merger closes, which is expected to occur later this week, the Seoul Economic Daily reported on Monday.

Local outlet The Chosun Daily reported on Monday that Dunamu and Naver plan to hold separate board meetings on Wednesday to approve the merger. If passed by each board, the CEOs of Dunamu and Naver will publicly detail their post-merger plans on Thursday.

Upbit is the most popular crypto trading platform in South Korea, and CoinGecko shows it has seen $2.1 billion in volume over the past day, roughly equivalent to the nearly $2.2 billion volume on its US-based rival Bullish, which had its IPO in August.

Dunamu’s potential IPO would allow Wall Street to get exposure to a highly active crypto market outside the US that often moves asymmetrically to other global crypto markets.

Local media reported in September that Naver Financial, Naver’s fintech arm, would acquire Dunamu by making it a subsidiary via a share exchange, pending board approvals.

Naver is the country’s top search engine and has been dubbed the “Google of South Korea.” Much like Google, Naver also operates an email hosting service, blogs, maps and a mobile payments processor.

Related: Bitkub exchange eyes Hong Kong IPO as Thai markets slump to 5-year lows: Report

Naver also plans to launch a local currency stablecoin project, as South Korea is moving forward with allowing Korean won-backed stablecoins, initially via banks.

Source: CoinTelegraph