Fair Trade Commission approves Mirae Asset-Korbit merger in first traditional finance-crypto deal

Mirae Asset Consulting's acquisition of virtual asset exchange Korbit has received regulatory approval and been finalized — the first time a subsidiary of a traditional financial group has acquired a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission on Thursday approved the merger arising from Mirae Asset Consulting's acquisition of a 92.06% stake in Korbit. The deal is valued at approximately 133.4 billion won ($87.4 million). Mirae Asset Consulting is a non-financial affiliate of Mirae Asset Group that operates hotels and manages real estate leasing. The group's major financial arms include Mirae Asset Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investments. Korbit is one of five domestic virtual asset exchanges licensed to handle won-denominated trading.

The Fair Trade Commission reviewed the deal as a conglomerate merger linking the securities and asset management businesses with a virtual asset exchange, examining whether it would restrict competition.

The commission assessed the potential for the combination of a listed-share investment platform and a virtual asset exchange to exclude rivals or raise barriers to market entry, and also reviewed the possibility of launching virtual asset-based exchange-traded funds. It concluded that Korbit's market share of roughly 0.5% was too small and that its current trading liquidity was insufficient to produce any meaningful restriction on competition. By trading volume last year, market share ranked as follows: Upbit (69%), Bithumb (28%), Coinone (2%), Korbit (0.5%) and Gopax (0.1%).

"This merger is the first case of a financial group affiliate acquiring a virtual asset exchange," the commission said, adding that it hoped the deal would "invigorate competition in the digital asset market through a reshaping of the digital finance market and innovation in services."