Mirae Asset acquires virtual asset exchange Korbit in a surprise move…Will it shake up the market?

Mirae Asset Group has made a surprise acquisition of Korbit, the country's fourth-largest virtual asset (cryptocurrency) exchange.

On the 28th, according to investment banks (IB) and the virtual asset industry, Mirae Asset Group recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to acquire most of the shares held by Korbit's largest shareholder NXC and its second-largest shareholder SK Planet. Currently, Korbit's share structure has NXC, Nexon's holding company, holding 60.5% and SK Planet holding 31.5%. The industry estimates the total transaction size at 100 billion–140 billion won.

The acquirer is Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of Mirae Asset Group. This is interpreted as a strategic choice considering the current law's principle of 'separating finance and virtual assets.' Rather than the traditional financial company Mirae Asset operating the exchange directly, the structure is to enter the market indirectly through a non-financial affiliate.

Industry observers say that amid a trend in which global financial and technology companies such as BlackRock and Coinbase are blurring the lines between traditional assets and digital assets, Mirae Asset has also begun to actively participate in the virtual asset market in a pragmatic way that takes into account the domestic regulatory environment.

Competition among domestic virtual asset exchanges is also expected to intensify. Dunamu, which operates Upbit, the domestic market-leading virtual asset exchange, became a 100% subsidiary of Naver Financial through a share swap with Naver and was incorporated as a grandchild company of Naver.

With Mirae Asset entering the exchange market in earnest through the acquisition of Korbit, attention is focusing on whether the domestic virtual asset exchange market will be reorganized into a structure in which IT/platform companies and traditional financial capital confront each other.