Mirae Asset Lifts Korbit Stake to 97.15%, First TradFi Takeover of a Korean Exchange

Mirae Asset Consulting, an affiliate of the $1 trillion Mirae Asset Group, now holds a 97.15% stake in Korbit, South Korea’s first cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange confirmed the ownership change on Thursday, calling it the first time a traditional Korean financial conglomerate’s affiliate has taken a controlling position in a domestic crypto trading platform.

Local media reported that Mirae Asset’s stake climbed from 92.06% to 97.15% through an additional transaction executed this week, cementing the group as Korbit’s largest shareholder by a wide margin. Mirae Asset Group reported roughly $1 trillion in assets under management as of May, giving Korbit a new owner with far deeper balance-sheet capacity than the exchange’s previous backers.

What actually changes — and what doesn’t

The shares changed hands through mandated regulatory reporting procedures, but the corporate entity operating the exchange, Korbit Co., Ltd., remains unchanged. Korbit said login, trading, deposits and withdrawals will continue without interruption, and personal data handling requires no action from users.

User deposits and virtual assets will keep being held separately from company assets, as required under South Korea’s Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users. In other words, the 97.15% ownership shift is a change in who sits above the exchange on the cap table, not a change in how customer funds are custodied day to day.

Notably, Mirae Asset Consulting is not a pure financial-services vehicle. The affiliate also manages the group’s hotel and golf course businesses, underscoring that the crypto stake sits alongside a diversified portfolio of physical assets rather than a dedicated digital-asset arm.

Founded 2013, now inside a trillion-dollar group

Korbit launched in 2013 as South Korea’s first homegrown crypto exchange, predating the country’s larger platforms and surviving multiple market cycles as an independent operator. Its absorption into a $1 trillion asset manager’s affiliate structure marks a shift from independent crypto-native ownership to a TradFi-anchored balance sheet, a first for a licensed Korean exchange.

South Korea is a market where retail crypto trading volumes have at times rivaled activity on the country’s stock exchanges, making a licensed trading venue a strategically valuable asset for a group already active in wealth management and brokerage. Owning the infrastructure directly, rather than partnering with it, gives Mirae Asset a foothold in that flow without having to build a platform from scratch.

Why it matters for Korbit’s users and the wider market

For existing Korbit customers, the near-term impact is limited: the exchange has explicitly stated there is no disruption to services or asset custody. The bigger signal is structural — a regulated, deep-pocketed financial conglomerate is now the controlling shareholder of a licensed exchange, which could translate into greater capital backing, compliance resources and product expansion over time.

The move also fits a broader pattern of traditional finance groups moving to acquire stakes in established crypto exchanges rather than launching competing platforms, a trend traders should watch as a proxy for how quickly TradFi capital is willing to take direct ownership positions in crypto infrastructure rather than simply offering exposure through funds or custody partnerships.

Sources

• coindesk.com
• theblock.co