Mirae Asset, one of South Korea's largest financial groups, is reportedly in talks to acquire Korbit, one of South Korea's four major cryptocurrency exchanges, in a deal estimated at $100 million. This signals a trend of mainstream financial capital further acquiring Web3 infrastructure.
Mirae Asset Group plans to acquire Korbit, South Korea's fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange.
According to the Chosun Ilbo , Mirae Asset Group is actively seeking to acquire Korbit, South Korea's fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Mirae Asset Consulting, a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Group, recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with major shareholders of Korbit to acquire a portion of its shares. Korbit is currently owned by Nexon's holding company NXC and its subsidiary Simple Capital Futures (approximately 60.5%), and SK Square (approximately 31.5%). The transaction is expected to be worth between 100 billion and 140 billion Korean won (approximately US$100 million).
Mirae's Web3 puzzle
Mirae Asset Group is South Korea's largest independent financial group. Unlike traditional financial holding companies that rely on banking business, it focuses on "securities and asset management".
Over the past five years, Mirae Asset Group has transformed from an initial strategic investor to an infrastructure builder (management, ST), and is now officially moving towards becoming a market operator (acquiring exchanges).
- In 2022, the group established a custody subsidiary: Mirae Asset Securities, a subsidiary of the group, announced its entry into the digital asset custody field in 2022, providing custody services for cryptocurrencies and NFTs for institutional investors.
- STO leader: Partnering with the Mina Foundation, using zero-knowledge proofs and ZK Rollup technology to ensure transaction privacy and compliance during the STO (Security Token Offering) process.
- Global X's flagship subsidiary's strategy: Their US ETF brand, Global X, has already launched several ETFs and thematic funds (such as BITS) related to Bitcoin and blockchain technology overseas.
- Early-stage Web3 investments: The group's investment arm has a long history of involvement in Web3 funding in Silicon Valley and Asia, including early-stage investments in projects that integrate AI and blockchain.
With South Korea's regulatory environment gradually becoming clearer, traditional financial institutions are reaping the benefits of Web3.
Mirae Asset's path closely resembles the typical logic of traditional finance (TradFi) profiting from Web3.
- Understanding the industry through VC
- Build infrastructure: Establish a hosting and STO platform to ensure compliance.
- Large-scale entry: When the market matures, directly acquire licensed exchanges (such as Korbit) to complete the ecosystem loop.
As South Korea's regulatory environment becomes clearer, it is attracting large-scale capital investment. This also signifies a trend of mainstream financial capital further acquiring Web3 infrastructure.
The article " Mirae Acquires $100 Million in Korbit? Building a Crypto Finance Empire" first appeared on ABMedia, a ABMedia .
