South Korea Approves Mirae Asset Consulting’s Acquisition of Korbit

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said on July 9 that it approved Mirae Asset Consulting’s acquisition of shares in Korbit, finding the deal was unlikely to significantly restrict competition in the relevant market.

Under the transaction, Mirae Asset Consulting will acquire a 92.06% stake in Korbit for about $96.6 million. Mirae Asset Consulting is a non-financial affiliate of Mirae Asset Group whose main business is hotel operations. Mirae Asset Securities and Mirae Asset Global Investments are among the group’s financial affiliates.

The commission reviewed whether the deal could limit competition because it creates conglomerate links between a securities business and a virtual-asset exchange, and between an asset manager and a virtual-asset exchange. It also examined whether the transaction could exclude competitors from future services combining securities investment platforms and crypto exchanges, or from the market for crypto-based exchange-traded funds.

The regulator concluded the risk to competition was low given Korbit’s market share. Based on trading volume last year, Upbit accounted for about 69% of South Korea’s virtual-asset exchange market, followed by Bithumb at about 28%, Coinone at about 2%, Korbit at about 0.5% and Gopax at about 0.1%, the commission said. It added that Korbit’s current scale makes anticompetitive effects unlikely in a market where retail investors prioritize liquidity over trading fees.

"This business combination is the first case in which an affiliate of a financial group has acquired a virtual-asset exchange amid the convergence of traditional finance and crypto exchanges," the commission said. It added that it expects the reshaping of the digital-finance market and service innovation, including this deal, to help spur competition in the digital-asset market.