'Even 1% will do': Race for crypto exchange stakes heats up as Korea eases finance-crypto separation rules

A race to acquire stakes in South Korea's cryptocurrency exchanges is heating up as the digital asset market moves closer to formal regulatory recognition. The surge in interest comes as financial authorities signal a relaxation of the so-called "finance-crypto separation" policy — the longstanding barrier that kept regulated financial institutions out of the virtual asset sector — and as firms rush to position themselves ahead of an expected boom in won stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization.

Brokerages in particular appear to have an additional motive: securing exchange partnerships to ease the procurement of physical crypto assets ahead of potential spot exchange-traded fund launches. Alongside direct equity investments, alliances anchored by won-denominated real-name account partnerships are also taking shape, with exchanges such as Dunamu emerging as the centerpiece of competing consortiums.

According to industry sources, one domestic digital asset exchange has recently been inundated with inquiries from companies saying they want to buy even a 1 percent stake. "It's not that there was no interest before, but proposals to buy even 1 to 2 percent have been flooding in lately," an exchange official said. "The level of investment interest is noticeably higher than at the start of the year." A financial industry official said word had been spreading among foreign firms for several months that operating in Korea requires either setting up a local subsidiary or obtaining a license. "I understand there are more companies considering equity investment," the official said.

Exchange stakes have long been considered scarce assets given that only five won-denominated exchanges operate in Korea. Most, aside from Upbit and Bithumb — which have secured retail customer liquidity — have struggled financially. That scarcity helps explain why Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of Mirae Asset Group, agreed to acquire Korbit for 133 billion won (about $96 million), a price above the exchange's market valuation.

For years, the finance-crypto separation policy — enforced through administrative guidance since 2017 — repeatedly knocked exchange investment off the agenda at financial firms. "Investing in exchanges has always been one of the ideas on the table for years," a financial holding company official said. "We wanted to do it and had the capacity, but it kept getting filtered out by our own assessment that regulations would block it."

The catalyst for the current rush was a series of early movers who read the regulatory shift and acted ahead of the crowd. Authorities signaled a loosening of the separation policy as they prepared the Digital Asset Basic Act and a roadmap for corporate market participation. A key signal came when regulators indicated they would allow bank-led consortiums — holding more than 50 percent plus one share — to issue won stablecoins, indirectly pointing toward an easing of rules that had banned regulated financial institutions from holding, purchasing, using as collateral, or investing in virtual assets.

Authorities also moved to gradually lift the ban on corporate real-name accounts as part of a roadmap for corporate participation in the virtual asset market, aiming to dismantle barriers that had prohibited any entity without a virtual asset service provider license from handling crypto at all. A concrete sign of the shifting climate came in March, when regulators approved a board member change that allowed a Mirae Asset Consulting-affiliated director to join Korbit's board. Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won recently told reporters that "there is a need to comprehensively examine global market changes and discussions on the institutionalization of virtual assets," signaling the possibility of further deregulation.

Hana Financial opened the floodgates on May 15, announcing the acquisition of a 6.55 percent stake in Dunamu in a deal valued at over 1 trillion won. Hanwha Investment followed on May 20 with a 9.84 percent stake purchase, and Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card jointly announced a 4 percent stake on May 28. On May 29, Korea Investment Securities and overseas exchange OKX each signed agreements to acquire 20 percent stakes in Coinone, marking the entry of major domestic brokerages and foreign capital alongside the earlier moves into Korbit — now majority-owned by Mirae Asset Consulting — and Gopax, backed by Binance.

"Although the Digital Asset Basic Act has yet to be finalized, we interpret these moves as preemptive equity investments to strengthen partnerships, based on the judgment that exchanges are an essential element for entering the digital asset market — including won stablecoins," said Lee Jun-ho, a researcher at Hana Securities. "The domestic digital asset market is expected to develop under consortium leadership, so other financial firms are likely to continue investing in exchanges going forward."

Among all the exchanges, Dunamu is by far the most sought after. It operates Upbit, which commands the largest share of retail trading volume among domestic exchanges — 63.6 percent as of May 29 — and is leading the push into global markets through its own mainnet, Kaia Chain.

Dunamu is the only one of the five won-denominated exchanges to have developed its own mainnet, an advantage analysts say gives it a competitive edge in the won stablecoin market as well. Operating a proprietary mainnet allows direct control and optimization of transaction fees and enables liquidity and assets to be managed on a single integrated ledger. Its ongoing merger with Naver Financial would also give it access to the Naver ecosystem as a vast distribution channel for won stablecoins, effectively securing a wide user base before the market even opens. Industry insiders already agree that the Dunamu-Naver consortium is the frontrunner before the won stablecoin race has even begun.

The decision by Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card to collectively acquire a 4 percent stake offers a window into the standing of the Dunamu consortium. Because rival Hanwha Investment secured a larger stake of 9.84 percent, Samsung affiliates could find themselves at a disadvantage if the two sides pursue similar digital asset business initiatives down the road. Still, analysts say the move carries significant weight regardless of size, as it secures priority access to Dunamu for technology cooperation and future digital asset business planning over other competitors.

"The limited supply of Dunamu shares is one factor, but buying just 1 to 2 percent — not 10 or 20 — suggests firms genuinely find the exchange attractive in its own right. It's closer to a pure equity investment than a bet on clear business synergies," a brokerage official said. "You may not know what the synergies will be, but with only five exchanges in the country, there's real meaning in being an early shareholder in the No. 1 player regardless of the size of the stake."

As Dunamu's available shares are quickly absorbed, attention is shifting to the remaining exchanges — though the pool of available stakes is shrinking there too, with Coinone now partly held by Korea Investment Securities and OKX on top of the ongoing Korbit acquisition. Bithumb is widely seen as difficult to invest in due to its complex ownership structure. Korea Investment Securities signed an MOU with Bithumb in December last year to provide asset management services, leading the market to anticipate a Mirae Asset-Korbit versus Korea Investment-Bithumb dynamic — but Korea Investment ultimately partnered with Coinone instead. Some observers attribute that outcome to the structural near-impossibility of taking an equity stake in Bithumb. Gopax presents a different challenge: any stake acquisition would require negotiations with its foreign backer, Binance. "When the Coinone stake issue came up, it honestly looked like there would be nothing left to buy after that," one investment industry official said.

The outlines of consortiums preparing for a won stablecoin era are also coming into focus. A financial and virtual asset alliance has formed around Dunamu — currently merging with Naver Financial — with Hana Financial, Hanwha Investment, Samsung Securities and Samsung Card among its current partners. Coinone and Korbit have each aligned with major domestic brokerages, rallying around Korea Investment Securities and Mirae Asset Group respectively. Bithumb is said to be coordinating a cooperative framework centered on Toss, alongside KB Financial — its existing won real-name account partner. Gopax is preparing to make its push in the second half of the year alongside Binance, the world's largest exchange, and Jeonbuk Bank, its real-name account partner.

For now, however, the areas where exchanges and financial firms can generate concrete synergies remain limited. Without the Digital Asset Basic Act — the sector-specific legislation that would define the scope of business for each type of operator and the shape of the market — the boundaries of permissible collaboration remain unclear. It is still unknown who will issue and distribute won stablecoins, or on which platform real-world assets, once tokenized and recorded on a blockchain ledger, will be traded and sold.

The same uncertainty applies to foreign exchange settlement. Expectations that Korea will follow a path similar to U.S. and other overseas legislation are widespread, but regulators' ultimate stance remains an open question. "Whatever it is, having an exchange in the mix gives you at least one advantage in planning future business," a senior financial industry official said. Wallet services and stablecoin issuance are among the areas most frequently cited as potential domains for technology cooperation between exchanges and financial firms.

For brokerages, which have been the most aggressive in pursuing exchange stakes, the investments are also seen as preparation for spot ETF and real-world asset markets. Partnering with a domestic exchange could ease the process of procuring physical crypto assets needed to back spot Bitcoin or Ether ETFs. "To issue an ETF you have to hold the equivalent amount of physical assets, and sourcing Bitcoin itself is extremely difficult," one industry official said. "You'd normally have to go overseas to find institutional-scale quantities, but working with a domestic exchange creates advantages." Beyond ETFs, exchanges serve as the gateway for buying, selling and converting digital assets. If various securities are tokenized and traded in the future, that environment could open up a wide range of distribution synergies for brokerages.