Mirae Asset Group is in talks to acquire Korbit, South Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a move that would mark a rare push by a mainstream financial group into the country’s tightly regulated digital-asset market, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions are being led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of Mirae Asset Group, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korbit’s major shareholders regarding a potential share purchase, the people said.
Terms remain fluid and there is no certainty a deal will be completed.
Korbit is primarily owned by NXC, the holding company behind gaming firm Nexon, together with its affiliate Simple Capital Futures, which together control about 60.5% of the exchange. SK Square holds roughly 31.5%, the people said.
The price under discussion is in the range of 100 billion to 140 billion won ($70 million to $100 million), which would represent one of the larger transactions involving a licensed crypto exchange in South Korea by a traditional financial group.
Founded in 2013, Korbit was an early pioneer in Korea’s crypto market, launching one of the first bitcoin-to-won trading platforms.
Its standing has since diminished as the market consolidated around a small number of dominant players.
According to data from CoinGecko, Upbit accounted for about 64.2% of 24-hour trading share as of Dec. 28, followed by Bithumb with 24.4% and Coinone with 10.8%. Korbit’s share stood at around 0.5%.
The strategic value for Mirae Asset appears to lie less in Korbit’s trading volumes than in its regulatory licences, compliance systems and banking relationships, assets that are difficult to secure under Korea’s stringent virtual-asset regime.
While ownership could give Mirae Asset a foothold in custody, tokenisation and digital-wealth services, Korbit’s small market share highlights the challenge of competing against entrenched incumbents in a highly concentrated market.