Mirae Asset to Acquire 92% Ownership of Korbit Exchange in $93M Transaction
A major South Korean financial services conglomerate, Mirae Asset Group, is entering the cryptocurrency exchange sector via its affiliate's $93 million cash acquisition of Korbit, subject to regulatory approval conditions before finalization.
An affiliate of the South Korean multinational financial services conglomerate Mirae Asset Group, known as Mirae Asset Consulting, has reached an agreement to take over a majority ownership position in Korbit, a domestically based cryptocurrency exchange platform.
According to a regulatory filing released on Friday, the firm intends to acquire 26.9 million Korbit shares at a price of 133.48 billion won (approximately $93 million), a deal that would result in a 92.06% controlling interest in the digital asset trading platform. The entire purchase price will be paid in cash.
Per the regulatory filing, Mirae Asset indicated that the acquisition's objective is "to secure future growth drivers through digital-asset (virtual-asset) businesses." The company's board of directors gave its approval to the transaction on Feb. 5, though initial reports about the prospective deal emerged last year.
The deal has not yet reached completion. Settlement of the transaction is scheduled to take place once all contractual closing conditions have been fulfilled, with the finalization anticipated within seven business days following the satisfaction of those requirements.
Korbit returns to profit after sale talks
In its latest fiscal year, Korbit posted revenue of 8.7 billion won alongside net profit of 9.8 billion won, marking a turnaround from the losses that had been registered in previous years.
The majority ownership of Korbit currently rests with NXC and its subsidiary entity Simple Capital Futures, which collectively control approximately 60.5% of the exchange platform. An additional ownership stake of 31.5% is held by SK Square.
With a complete operating license and established compliance infrastructure in place, Korbit could serve as an appealing gateway for a significant financial institution looking to gain regulated access to the digital asset sector.
As previously covered by Cointelegraph, another domestic exchange platform, Coinone, is similarly considering a possible sale, with chairman Cha Myung-hoon looking to sell off his 53.4% controlling ownership position.
Korbit trails major Korean exchanges in trading volume
Based on data from CoinGecko, Korbit continues to operate as a comparatively modest participant in South Korea's cryptocurrency trading landscape when measured against the larger domestic exchange platforms. Out of approximately $3.64 billion in total 24-hour trading volume monitored across Korea-based trading platforms, Korbit registered roughly $59.9 million in daily trading activity.
Upbit dominated the trading landscape with approximately $2.16 billion in 24-hour volume, while Bithumb followed in second place with around $1.36 billion. Smaller trading platforms lagged considerably further behind, with exchanges like INEX posting volumes measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.