South Korea’s leading financial group, Mirae, reportedly engaged in talks to acquire the country’s fourth largest cryptocurrencies exchange, Korbit. The Financial giant’s subsidiary has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with major stakeholders of Korbit. If the deal is finalized, Mirae will be joining the trend of traditional financial firms making inroads into digital assets. Mirae is holding talks with Korbit through its non-financial subsidiary, Mirae Asset Group Consulting, to comply with Korea’s strict regulations that prevent traditional financial companies from directly operating cryptocurrency exchanges.
Korbit’s Market Position In Korea’s Competitive Crypto Arena
Despite being the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, Korbit only possesses 0.5% of the country’s cryptocurrency trading volume with $5.56 million in daily transactions. This is in stark contrast with the top competitors, Upbit and Bithumb, who possess 71.6% and 25.8% of market share.
According to the data from South Korea’s financial regulatory authorities, such as KoFIU (Korea Financial Intelligence Unit), Upbit, and Bithumb, together control 97% of the country’s crypto exchanges, squeezing smaller exchanges like Coinone, Korbit, and GOPAX into a corner with a combined market share of less than 3%.
From Pioneer To 0.5%: Korbit’s Market Share Erosion
Korbit became South Korea’s first cryptocurrency exchange when it was launched in 2013. Despite being the pioneer, it was quickly overtaken by Bithumb the very next year(2014). As Korea’s cryptocurrency market started to bloom, Upbit started offering aggressively low fees, and Korbit lost the rest of its market share.
Korbit’s competitors have massive financial and technological backing from parent corporations. Upbit was backed by Kakao Corporation, South Korea’s largest internet company. Kakao also owns KakaoTalk (a Korean messaging app) with 50+ million users, which contributed to Upbit’s rapid customer acquisition.
In short, Korbit couldn’t fend effectively against the bigger guns despite being the pioneer in crypto exchange. The challenges faced by Korbit continue in 2025 as KoFIU has issued a sanction notice against them for regulatory violations of anti-money laundering (AML) obligations.
Strategic Rationale: Why $100M for 0.5% Market Share?
Korbit owns a modest share of the cryptocurrency exchange volume in South Korea and is facing an Anti Money Laundering notice from KoFIU. Despite these cons, the $100 million valuation of the company remains reasonable because of the following reasons:
Mirae Value Regulatory License As Core Asset
Acquiring a VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) license in South Korea is extremely difficult as the regulatory framework is becoming increasingly stringent. Moreover, the process is time and resource-heavy, and may take up to 2-3 years and $10M+ in compliance investments. Hence, acquiring Korbit is a strategic move that will help the firm to bypass these constraints in one go.
AML Notice Impact Is Limited
The financial regulatory authority of KoFIU has issued a sanction notice against Korbit on December 18, 2025, for violations of anti-money laundering obligations. If the Sanctions Deliberation Committee decision is against Korbit, they may incur penalties. The decision is expected by early January 2026. Hence, this $100M deal might be closed by then, by the current stakeholders of Korbit to evade potential penalties.
The AML violation sanctions against Upbit have already set a precedent here, since Upbit incurred a $25M fine for violations in 2025. Yet Naver Financial acquired Dunamu (Upbit’s operator) for $10.3 billion months later. Hence, the sanctions against Korbit also hold little impact on its valuation.
What’s Next For Korbit And The Korean Market
Korbit lost its market share to platforms that are backed by corporate giants with established financial and technological infrastructure. The acquisition by Marae Asset Group will provide it with the deep-pocket support that it lacked all along. This could potentially be an inception to Korbit’s revival. The move also signals a boost in confidence in digital assets across Korean markets.
