Dunamu Deepens Financial Alliances as Hanwha Buys $433 Million Stake to Expand Tokenized Securities Push

Dunamu shares held by Kakao Investment

Hanwha Investment Securities to acquire an additional $433 million stake

Digital-asset infrastructure emerges as a key growth driver

Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has brought banks and securities firms into its camp. With stablecoins and tokenized securities, or STOs, gaining attention, Dunamu’s standing in the financial industry is rising. The focus is now on whether the company can build new business foundations beyond cryptocurrency trading, its main source of revenue.

Hanwha Investment Securities said on May 21 that it will complete its purchase of Dunamu shares worth 597.8 billion won ($433 million) from Kakao Investment on June 15. Once the deal closes, Hanwha Investment will become Dunamu’s third-largest shareholder with a 9.8% stake, behind Chairman Song Chi-hyung, who holds 25.5%, and Vice Chairman Kim Hyeong-nyeon, who holds 13.1%. Hana Financial Group, which bought 2.284 million Dunamu shares on May 15 to secure a 6.6% stake, will become the fifth-largest shareholder.

Securities firms and financial institutions are making strategic investments in Dunamu because its digital-asset infrastructure is emerging as a new growth area. South Korean brokerages are increasingly focused on tokenized securities and real-world assets, or RWAs, which use blockchain technology to fractionalize and trade underlying assets. If the technology develops further and the market takes shape, blockchain-based trading of assets such as real estate could significantly broaden the role of securities firms.

A Hanwha Investment Securities official said cryptocurrency exchanges run on complex infrastructure and could generate significant synergies in RWA trading.

The same applies to payments, where stablecoins are central. Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to the value of a specific currency. As the use of dollar-based stablecoins increases globally, the possibility of issuing won-denominated stablecoins is also growing.

The key issue is technology. South Korean financial companies lack the know-how to trade or use digital assets. Dunamu is not itself pursuing STO, RWA or stablecoin businesses. Still, digital-asset businesses that remain largely conceptual will need core infrastructure before they can be implemented. In South Korea, only cryptocurrency exchanges currently have the infrastructure needed for digital-asset issuance and distribution, customer verification and suspicious-transaction detection.

Dunamu also urgently needs new businesses beyond cryptocurrency trading. The company posted consolidated first-quarter revenue of 236.4 billion won ($171 million), down 55% from 516.2 billion won a year earlier, as crypto trading declined. Data submitted by the Bank of Korea to the office of lawmaker Cha Gyu-geun of the Rebuilding Korea Party showed domestic cryptocurrency holdings stood at 60.6 trillion won ($43.9 billion) at the end of February, down nearly half from 121.8 trillion won in January 2025.

Analysts say equity investments by financial companies could also strengthen the perception that cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming more legitimate businesses. That may help counter the view that digital assets are mainly used for laundering criminal proceeds or for speculative bets.

An official at a cryptocurrency exchange said exchanges have expertise not only in trading but also in crypto wallets. They also have an advantage in explaining to domestic market participants how to use core technologies developed overseas.

Park Si-on, Hankyung reporter, ushire908@hankyung.com