South Korean financial giant Mirae Asset to acquire Korbit? $97 million acquisition reveals traditional finance's Web3 ambitions

【Block Motion】A major player in Korea’s traditional finance sector, Mirae Asset, has recently made a big move. According to media reports, this Seoul-based financial group is in talks to acquire a stake in the local crypto trading platform Korbit, aiming to take approximately 92% of the shares. The transaction price is highly uncertain—rumors suggest it could be as high as 140 billion Korean won, close to hundreds of millions of RMB.

At first glance, this seems straightforward, but it actually reflects a larger trend. Mirae Asset has been operating in asset management, wealth management, investment banking, and insurance for many years, holding a significant position in the traditional financial circle. If this acquisition goes through, it will mark their official entry into the crypto world—this will be their first.

Group founder Park Hyeon-joon has been emphasizing the same theme over the past two years: combining opportunities in traditional assets and digital assets. In other words, big financial institutions are also pondering how to seize this opportunity. Industry observers believe that although Korbit’s presence in the Korean market is somewhat weaker compared to a few other platforms, if Mirae Asset actually takes over and uses its extensive financial operational experience to rebuild the platform, it might create some new innovations.

Data speaks: Korbit currently ranks fourth among compliant exchanges in Korea, with an average daily trading volume of about $11.8 million. This performance is not particularly impressive—it’s a fraction of Upbit’s daily volume (around $1.2 billion), and Bithumb far exceeds it ($475 million), with third-place Coinone at $58 million. However, this also indicates there is room for improvement.