Mirae Asset completes Korbit acquisition after raising stake to 97.15%

Mirae Asset Group has completed its acquisition of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Korbit, marking one of the first traditional-finance takeovers of a domestic crypto platform to formally close. Korbit said the required reporting procedures to relevant authorities had been completed and that the legal entity operating the exchange, Korbit Co., Ltd., remains unchanged, with login, trading, deposits and withdrawals continuing without interruption. Mirae Asset Consulting, the group’s consulting and real estate affiliate, acquired roughly 92% of Korbit, including 60.5% from NXC and 31.5% from SK Planet, in a transaction valued at about 133.5 billion won, or $93 million. Mirae Asset’s board approved the acquisition on Feb. 5 and said in a regulatory filing that the purpose was to secure future growth drivers through digital-asset businesses. Earlier reporting said the group later moved to raise its ownership to 97.15%, while separately presenting Korbit as the core of a broader digital-finance strategy under the Digital X name. The deal gives Mirae Asset a licensed exchange and compliance infrastructure in one of the world’s most tightly regulated crypto markets, even though Korbit remains a relatively small player by trading volume. Korbit is South Korea’s first crypto exchange and introduced won-denominated bitcoin trading, but it ranks fourth among licensed local venues, with roughly $11.8 million in daily trading volume compared with Upbit’s $1.2 billion and Bithumb’s $475 million. Korbit nevertheless returned to profitability in its most recent fiscal year, reporting 8.7 billion won in revenue and 9.8 billion won in net profit. The acquisition comes as Korean brokerages and other financial institutions build positions in domestic crypto infrastructure ahead of new rules for security token offerings, stablecoins, crypto taxation and cross-border transfers. In May, Korea Investment & Securities and OKX Ventures each invested about $53 million in Coinone for 19.6% stakes, and in June Kiwoom Securities entered talks to acquire a stake in Bithumb. Mirae Asset’s bet is that traditional-finance distribution and product capabilities can be combined with Korbit’s regulatory permissions and operating platform to expand into tokenized assets and other digital-asset services.