Mirae Asset Moves on Korbit for Korean Market Expansion

• Mirae Asset Group is in talks to buy Korbit in a deal valued between 100B and 140B won ($70M-$100M).
• The acquisition is focused on Korbit’s full Korean crypto license, not its sub-1% trading share.
• An MOU with major shareholders signals real intent, though the deal remains non-binding.

Mirae Asset Group is in talks to acquire Korbit, one of South Korea’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchanges. For now, the talks remain non-binding and subject to due diligence, but the intent is clear.

The proposed deal values Korbit between 100 billion and 140 billion won, roughly $70 million to $100 million, according to local media reports. The discussions are being led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of the group.

An MOU has been signed with Korbit’s major shareholders, moving the talks beyond an exploratory phase. No binding agreement has been announced.

License Value Drives the Deal

The exchange holds a full South Korean operating license, including banking relationships and KRW on- and off-ramps. With licensing standards among the strictest globally, buying an existing exchange is often faster than applying for approval.

Korbit launched in 2013 and was an early pioneer of Bitcoin-to-won trading.  market Today, it commands only a small slice of the Korean market. CoinGecko data shows Korbit handles roughly 0.5% of domestic trading volume, compared with Upbit’s 64% and Bithumb’s 24%.

Related: South Korea Stablecoin Bill Misses December 10 Deadline as Central Bank Objects

Shareholders Want to Exit

Korbit is primarily owned by NXC and its subsidiary Simple Capital Futures, which together control about 60.5% of shares. SK Square holds another 31.5%, having invested 90 billion won in 2021.

The MOU indicates that at least some shareholders are open to selling at the current valuation range. The proposed price is a massive discount from earlier expectations during the peak of the crypto cycle.

It is important to note that earlier this year, Naver Financial agreed to acquire Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, in a stock-swap deal valued at roughly 15 trillion won ($10.4 billion). That transaction places Korea’s dominant exchange under a major technology and fintech group.

Together, the two deals point in the same direction. Large financial and tech firms are treating licensed crypto exchanges as compliance-ready platforms to gain entry into the regional market.

If completed, the Korbit acquisition would give Mirae Asset a regulated crypto venue without competing head-on with Upbit on liquidity.

Related: South Korea Advances Digital Asset Basic Act With Bank-Led Stablecoin Issuer Requirement