On a quiet Sunday evening at year end, news broke that Mirae Asset, one of Korea’s largest financial groups, is pursuing the acquisition of the cryptocurrency exchange Korbit. Mirae Asset is reportedly in discussions to acquire shares held by Korbit’s largest shareholder NXC, which owns 60.5%, and its second largest shareholder SK Planet, which holds 31.5%. The total transaction size is estimated to be between $70M-$100M
Mirae Asset’s core businesses are securities brokerage and asset management. It ranks second in Korea in terms of net income and assets under management, making it a financial heavyweight. For reference, the Mirae Asset Group manages ~$700M in total AUM.
Korbit, however, is struggling. Although it is one of Korea’s five major cryptocurrency exchanges, its market share is below 1% domestically and it has consistently posted operating losses. This raises a natural question. Why would Mirae Asset seek to acquire a crypto exchange in such a weak position?
Mirae Asset has shown a serious and sustained interest in crypto for years. In early 2022, it officially reviewed entering the crypto custody business, although the initiative did not ultimately move forward. In early 2023, it launched a security token offering business in partnership with SK Telecom.
More recently, Mirae Asset has articulated a notably aggressive strategic direction. This is embodied in its Mirae Asset 3.0 strategy, which focuses on the convergence of traditional and digital assets, as well as AI driven and digital financial innovation. At its core, Mirae Asset 3.0 aims to deliver financial services that integrate traditional finance with Web3 and blockchain based digital assets.
As part of this strategy, Mirae Asset has been pursuing several crypto and blockchain related initiatives, including the following.
In June 2025, it launched a Bitcoin covered call ETF through its subsidiary Global X.
In September 2025, it began collaborating with Ava Labs to jointly develop fund tokenization and onchain payment systems.
It is also developing a digital wallet, targeting a launch in June 2026.
Beyond these initiatives, Mirae Asset already operates a wide range of products through Global X, including BTC and ETH ETPs, ETFs investing in blockchain related companies, and Bitcoin futures ETFs.
Why would a major financial institution like Mirae Asset pursue the acquisition of a struggling crypto exchange such as Korbit? While only the parties involved know the full rationale, several potential benefits stand out.
VASP License: In Korea, offering crypto trading, custody, or related services to customers requires holding the appropriate type of VASP license. There are five categories of VASP licenses depending on the services provided. Licenses covering crypto on and off ramps and exchange operations have been rarely issued in recent years, and even when they are, the process now takes more than two years on average. All five major Korean exchanges hold all five VASP license types, making acquisition of an exchange one of the most effective ways to secure them.
Custodial Wallet System: Financial institutions need a robust custodial wallet infrastructure to provide crypto services to clients. Through acquiring Korbit, Mirae Asset could immediately obtain expertise in liquidity management, key management, and security systems.
Custody business: Mirae Asset previously reviewed crypto custody business in 2022. If it acquires Korbit and its VASP licenses, it could launch institutional custody services without delay and even perform custody for spot crypto ETFs in house.
Crypto Trading Services: Brokerage is one of Mirae Asset’s core businesses. Acquiring Korbit would allow it to offer crypto trading alongside stocks and bonds. Crypto exchanges in Korea are highly profitable, and even though Korbit is currently underperforming, its profitability could improve significantly under Mirae Asset’s operational capabilities and brand.
Funding to IMA: According to @pasankimchi Mirae Asset Securities recently received approval as an IMA operator. The key feature of the IMA business is the ability to raise debt up to 300% of equity capital. However, IMA operators must guarantee relatively high target returns of around 8% to retail investors, making funding costs expensive. By acquiring Korbit, Mirae Asset could create a channel through which Korean won deposits from Korbit users flow into IMA debt securities. This would represent a much cheaper source of funding than raising capital directly from retail investors.
If Mirae Asset successfully acquires Korbit, it would be a landmark transaction in Korea’s financial market. However, there are several concerns about whether the deal can proceed smoothly.
The first is the principle of separating finance and crypto. In Korea, there is a long standing regulatory stance that traditional financial institutions and crypto businesses should be kept separate. While not explicitly codified in law, this policy has been consistently upheld by financial authorities and regulators. In practice, this means financial institutions are generally not allowed to operate crypto businesses.
To work around this, Mirae Asset is pursuing the Korbit acquisition through Mirae Asset Consulting rather than Mirae Asset Management or Mirae Asset Securities. However, Mirae Asset Consulting owns more than 36 percent of Mirae Asset Management and also holds shares in Mirae Asset Capital, which itself owns shares in Mirae Asset Securities. As a result, regulators may still view the structure as violating the separation principle, creating a risk that the deal could be blocked.
There is precedent for this concern. Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit, previously attempted to acquire a small to mid sized securities firm but failed due to the combined barriers of separating finance and industry and separating finance and crypto. Whether Mirae Asset’s acquisition of Korbit will receive regulatory approval remains an open question.
The second concern is the strict scrutiny applied to companies that hold VASP licenses. In Korea, VASP holders sometimes face restrictions from major commercial banks on international remittances and transactions due to concerns around money laundering or abuse of the kimchi premium. While it is unlikely that Mirae Asset Group would face such restrictions after acquiring Korbit, this is still a factor worth careful consideration.
Mirae Asset is one of Korea’s largest financial groups, spanning both brokerage and asset management. If it successfully completes the acquisition of Korbit, it would be well positioned to offer a wide range of crypto services to both retail and institutional clients on top of its already powerful traditional finance pipelines.
It remains to be seen whether Mirae Asset’s acquisition of Korbit can become the cornerstone of its Mirae Asset 3.0 strategy.
