"South Korea's Buffett" plans to acquire Korbit, potentially leading the country's fourth-largest exchange to a turnaround?

Author: Zen, PANews

The Korean crypto exchange scene is constantly evolving. By the end of 2025, Korea’s financial giant Mirae Asset Group was revealed to be advancing the acquisition of a stake in Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Korbit. News of traditional financial giants entering the crypto market has once again drawn attention to Korea.

Currently, Mirae Asset Group has engaged with Korbit’s largest shareholder NXC and second-largest shareholder SK Planet, and has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The agreement covers approximately all shares held by both parties, with a transaction valuation estimated between 100 billion and 140 billion Korean won (about $70 million to $100 million). Due to confidentiality agreements, Mirae Asset cannot confirm specific details publicly.

“Korea’s Buffett” Tests the Waters in Cryptocurrency

Mirae Asset Group is one of Korea’s leading comprehensive financial groups, with operations spanning asset management, securities investment banking and brokerage, insurance, and more, with “globalization” as its long-term strategic focus. As of July 2025, the group disclosed that its total assets under management had surpassed $700 billion.

The head of the group is Park Hyeon-joo, known as “Korea’s Buffett.” Since founding Mirae Asset Group in 1997, Park has been a core decision-maker, currently serving as Global Strategy Officer, focusing on overseas business. According to The Korea Times, sources say Park Hyeon-joo has emphasized exploring business connections between traditional global assets and digital assets.

Park Hyeon-joo Therefore, the move to acquire Korbit aligns with Park Hyeon-joo’s vision of financial innovation based on digital assets. Currently, Mirae Asset’s non-financial subsidiary, Mirae Asset Consulting, has signed acquisition memoranda of understanding with Korbit’s two major shareholders—game giant Nexon’s holding company NXC and SK Group’s subsidiary SK Planet. NXC and its affiliates hold about 60.5% of shares, while SK Planet holds about 31.5%.

The reason for completing the Korbit acquisition through Mirae Asset Consulting is due to Korea’s “financial-virtual asset separation” principle established since 2017, which generally prevents traditional financial institutions from directly operating, holding, or controlling virtual asset-related businesses. Using a non-financial subsidiary as the acquisition vehicle allows regulatory circumvention of these restrictions.

Mirae Asset has not officially responded to this matter, but informed sources say the general direction of the memorandum signing has been confirmed. This move is also seen as an important signal of Korea’s traditional financial institutions actively expanding into digital asset businesses.

Shrinking Shares, Years of Losses, Korbit Hopes for a New Owner

Mirae Asset Group’s bold acquisition of Korbit, surprising many in the industry, is widely viewed as a move that could significantly impact Korea’s crypto market. Optimists even predict that Korbit, once acquired, could break the monopoly of Upbit and Bithumb.

Founded in 2013, Korbit was one of Korea’s earliest exchanges to launch Bitcoin-to-KRW trading. In its early days, Korbit held a notable position in blockchain trading with the Korean won, but as market competition intensified, its influence waned.

Today, although Korbit claims to be Korea’s fourth-largest crypto exchange, its market position and share are far behind Upbit and Bithumb. By the end of December 2025, Upbit and Bithumb’s 24-hour trading volume market shares were approximately 67% and 27%, respectively, with the third-largest exchange Coinone at about 5%, and Korbit less than 1%, trailing far behind industry leaders.

Top Four Korean Exchanges In terms of shareholder structure, NXC, the holding company of Korea’s gaming giant Nexon, acquired about 62% of Korbit’s shares in 2017 for 93 billion Korean won (around $70 million). In 2021, SK Group’s investment platform SK Square (or SK Planet) invested about 90 billion won in Korbit, acquiring roughly 35%, becoming the second-largest shareholder. Subsequently, NXC’s stake was diluted to about 60.5%, and SK Square’s to about 31.5%.

Looking at the timeline, the strategic moves by these two traditional giants into blockchain and metaverse-related future industries came at an opportune time. However, Korbit’s operational performance has been less than ideal; after NXC’s acquisition, its performance deteriorated, with continuous operating deficits over several years. In 2024, as Korea’s virtual currency market rebounded, Korbit finally turned profitable, with losses significantly reduced compared to 2023, and non-recurring gains from crypto asset investments brought its net profit to 9.8 billion Korean won last year.

As a result, NXC and SK Square have long sought to exit and find new buyers for Korbit. In February 2024, media reports indicated NXC planned to sell about 48% of its Korbit shares. Since 2023, both NXC and SK Square have contacted multiple potential buyers, but negotiations have repeatedly failed due to price disagreements and internal/external issues.

Notably, in November 2025, there were reports that Bybit was in talks to acquire Korbit, but Korbit’s official channels quickly denied the rumor, stating “there has been no notification or negotiation regarding share sale.”

Intense Competition and Tightening Regulations in Korea’s Crypto Exchanges

Currently, Korea’s crypto market is dominated by Upbit, with Bithumb making a strong push. After expanding their market share, both giants are also actively exploring further business expansion while consolidating their competitive advantages.

Dunamu’s Upbit, the industry leader, announced it will be acquired by Korea’s tech giant Naver through its financial subsidiary Naver Financial, in a full stock transaction valued at $10.3 billion. According to the announced timetable, the final share exchange is expected to be completed by June 30, 2026.

Additionally, Bloomberg reports that after the Naver Financial merger, Upbit plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq.

Bithumb, aiming to list on Korea’s KOSDAQ in 2026, has also been preparing extensively. In 2025, it pushed for a corporate split and restructuring, separating its exchange core business from investment, holding, and new non-exchange businesses, to clarify business boundaries and risk isolation for listing approval. Its IPO is underwritten by Samsung Securities, which is currently conducting due diligence and other preparations.

Against this backdrop of fierce market competition, Korbit, with its very small market share, faces significant challenges to break through.

On the other hand, regulatory pressures not only hinder business development but also increase uncertainties regarding Mirae Asset’s potential acquisition.

By the end of 2025, Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported that Korbit was fined 2.73 billion Korean won (about $2.08 million) and issued warnings and disciplinary actions to company representatives and reporting officers for violating the “Specific Financial Information Act.” The FIU’s penalties are part of broader enforcement actions against Korean exchanges, mainly focusing on whether platforms fulfill customer identity verification and transaction restriction obligations. Previously, the FIU also issued a fine of approximately 35.2 billion won to Dunamu.

Additionally, Korea’s Financial Committee has proposed in the draft “Digital Asset Basic Act” submitted to the National Assembly to limit the shareholding ratio of major shareholders of the four largest domestic virtual asset exchanges to between 15% and 20%, aiming to prevent founders and major shareholders from controlling exchange operations. If passed, these regulations would require major exchanges to restructure, raising industry concerns over excessive government regulation.

Therefore, whether Mirae Asset and Korbit can ultimately reach an agreement remains uncertain. Despite its small share, Korbit, as a licensed exchange with banking account connectivity and compliance infrastructure, remains attractive to traditional financial institutions and can quickly access regulated virtual asset services. If the acquisition succeeds, Mirae Asset, as a traditional financial giant, could provide far more support to Korbit than current shareholders, further promoting the integration of traditional finance and crypto businesses.