Mirae Asset to Inject $36 Million Into Korbit Operator After Acquisition

Mirae Asset Group is moving to bolster the capital of cryptocurrency exchange Korbit after completing its acquisition of the platform, with a planned injection of about $36 million.

DigitalX, the operator of Korbit, decided at a board meeting on Aug. 12 to carry out a third-party allotment share sale worth about 50 billion won ($36.1 million), News1 reported on Aug. 13.

The company will issue 10,078,614 new common shares at 4,961 won apiece. Mirae Asset Consulting, the largest shareholder, will acquire all of the new shares, with payment due on Aug. 27.

DigitalX said the purpose of the share sale was to improve its financial structure and secure emergency funding for management needs.

The capital injection is the first large-scale recapitalization since Mirae Asset Group acquired Korbit. Mirae Asset Consulting currently holds a 97.15% stake in DigitalX.

Mirae Asset Consulting previously acquired Korbit for about 130 billion won ($93.9 million), securing management control, and received business combination approval from the Fair Trade Commission last month. The deal marked the first acquisition of a domestic cryptocurrency exchange by an affiliate of a financial group.

The post-acquisition reorganization has also begun. Korbit Co., the exchange's operating entity, changed its corporate name to DigitalX Co. on Aug. 11. The company plans to keep the Korbit brand for now, though it intends to change it later.

Mirae Asset Group plans to expand DigitalX beyond cryptocurrency trading into a platform linking traditional financial assets and digital assets. After acquiring Korbit, Park Hyeon-joo, Mirae Asset Group's global strategy officer, identified DigitalX as a core pillar of the group's "Mirae Asset 3.0" strategy.