2025-12-29 07:29:57

Korea's Mirae Asset Group is actively pursuing a significant acquisition plan—taking over Korea's fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Korbit. According to industry sources, the deal is expected to be valued between 100 billion and 140 billion KRW, approximately $70 million to $100 million.

This acquisition is led by Mirae Asset's non-financial subsidiary, Mirae Asset Consulting, and the two parties have already signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding. However, Korbit's official response states that there are currently "no confirmed matters," and their attitude remains cautious.

Korbit's ownership structure is quite representative. The gaming giant Nexon's holding company, NXC, controls about 60.5% of the shares, while SK Group's SK Planet invested 90 billion KRW in 2021, holding 31.5% of the shares.

Founded in 2013, Korbit was Korea's first cryptocurrency exchange and was the world's first platform to offer direct Bitcoin-to-Korean Won trading, holding an undeniable historical position. However, market dynamics have shifted. Industry data shows that Korbit's trading volume share in Korea has fallen to less than 1%, with the market leader firmly held by Upbit, acquired by NAVER.

This potential acquisition reflects the ongoing interest of traditional financial giants in the crypto ecosystem and indicates that consolidation trends in this sector still persist.

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StrawberryIce

· 2025-12-30 10:20

Korbit, the exchange is now in such a state, the once top player has fallen to less than 1%, it's a bit sad. Traditional financial giants are all bottom-fishing. Do they really believe in this or just want to get a license to play around? And wait, Nexon and SK still hold major shares. How do they negotiate this deal? By the way, if future assets are really taken over, can they save this old dinosaur? I'm not very optimistic. These days, exchanges are too competitive; without some innovation, it's really hard to keep up. The wave of mergers is coming, it feels like another reshuffle is on the way.

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AllInAlice

· 2025-12-29 07:54

Oh no, the leading exchange Korbit has actually been acquired... once the number one It's a bit unfortunate that Korbit is declining, but the entry of these financial giants indicates that the industry is still undergoing consolidation and optimization No way it's just a rumor, they're actually in talks. Nexon and SK are involved, so the chances of this deal going through are quite high Wait, market share drops below 1%? That's true decline... no wonder they're selling Traditional finance entering and integrating crypto feels like this cycle is indeed different Korbit's official statement, neither admitting nor denying, is playing psychological games with us Basically, it's the industry consolidation stage, small exchanges have no future I feel a bit sorry for Korbit; the pioneer from back then can now only face being acquired... If this deal goes through, the concentration of the Korean crypto market will soar again It seems that the future assets are only moving in when they see the trend in the sector, otherwise, they wouldn't bother

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LiquidityHunter

· 2025-12-29 07:46

Wait, Korbit's trading volume has dropped to less than 1%? How is the liquidity gap so large... Is the future asset planning to arbitrage the price difference through this acquisition? Spending 70 million to 100 million dollars to acquire an exchange with less than 1% market share, can this calculation be justified?

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GateUser-e87b21ee

· 2025-12-29 07:34

Future assets are for retirement, yet Korbit still charges 1% trading volume? Maybe it's just for a license.

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BrokenYield

· 2025-12-29 07:31

nah this smells like a dead cat bounce wrapped in institutional cope. korbit down to <1% volume? that's not a comeback story, that's a liquidation waiting to happen. mirae asset probably sees the regulatory arbitrage play, but the correlation matrix here doesn't add up—they're buying yesterday's news at tomorrow's bagholding prices. classic degen move disguised as "strategic positioning." 🍿

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