South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is reviewing Hana Bank’s plan to acquire a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit.
Summary
- Hana Bank’s stake in Dunamu is under review as banks remain limited in directly owning crypto-related businesses.
- The deal would make Hana Bank Dunamu Hana Bank Dunamu’s fourth largest shareholder if regulators allow it to close in June.
- crypto.news said Hana’s move follows positioning linked to Naver, Mirae and OKX in South Korea’s crypto market.
iNews24 reported that the regulator was checking whether the deal fell under rules separating banks from commercial firms.
The report states that Hana Bank is purchasing the shares of Kakao Investment, not Dunamu directly. Yet an FSC official said the deal was of the same nature as an investment in Dunamu. The official said regulators review it under the same standards.
Banking rules remain key issue
The study focuses on South Korea’s “banking-commerce separation” approach. The rule limits banks to holding certain non-financial business interests. Crypto exchange operators fall into a sensitive area because they are not treated like regular financial companies under current rules.
The iNews24 report said South Korea has banned financial companies from purchasing, holding, pledging or investing in virtual assets and related stock holdings through supervisory guidelines since 2017. The official also said authorities are “not directly relaxing” the rule at this stage.
Separately, Hana Bank recently agreed to buy back Kakao Investment’s 6.55% stake in Dunamu. Reuters reported that the transaction was worth 1 trillion won, or about $700 million, based on company filings. Kakao Investment’s stake would drop to 4.03% after the sale.
crypto.news reported that Hana would become Dunamu’s fourth shareholder after the deal. The same report states that the transaction is expected to be finalized on June 15 and gives Hana direct exposure to South Korea’s largest crypto exchange operator.
South Korea’s Crypto Finance Push Intensifies
Hana’s move comes as major Korean financial and technology groups are moving closer to crypto companies. crypto.news reported that the deal also comes as Dunamu works on its proposed merger with Naver Financial, which has yet to be reviewed.
Reuters reported in November that Naver Financial agreed to acquire Dunamu in an all-stock deal valued at 15.13 trillion won. Reuters also noted that Upbit had around 70% market share, according to some reports, while crypto.news later cited Reuters as saying that Upbit handled more than 80% of South Korea’s virtual asset trading volume.
South Korea is also preparing new rules for tokenized securities. crypto.news reported that the FSC plans to publish detailed rules on tokenized securities in July before the amended laws take effect in February 2027.
