Major South Korean brokerages are eyeing digital asset exchanges. After Mirae Asset Securities, Korea Investment & Securities has moved to pursue the purchase of an exchange stake. Some see it as the start of a race to secure future growth despite institutional risks, including the Digital Asset Basic Act.

On April 8, the financial investment industry said Korea Investment & Securities is reviewing the acquisition of a stake in Coinone, South Korea's third-largest digital asset exchange. The company said it is reviewing various digital asset businesses but nothing has been decided.

Coinone also said it has received many inquiries from South Korea and abroad since last year, including from Korea Investment & Securities, but nothing has been decided.

The industry says that as Korbit's acquisition price has been below market expectations, Coinone is unlikely to agree to a sale if that is used as a valuation benchmark.

In that case, Korea Investment & Securities could also turn its attention to Bithumb, another potential partner. Korea Investment & Securities signed a business agreement with Bithumb late last year related to wealth management services.

An industry source said they understood that related discussions between Korea Investment & Securities and Bithumb had also been under way behind the scenes, but they seem to have stopped because of a mistaken payment incident.

Earlier, Mirae Asset Consulting, an affiliate of Mirae Asset Group, decided in February to buy 92.06 percent of digital asset exchange Korbit for 133.5 billion won. It bought in full the stakes held by NXC, the holding company of existing top shareholder Nexon, and by SK Square.

Mirae Asset Group is considering the U.S. Robinhood model, which allows stocks and digital assets to be traded on one platform. The structure is to acquire an exchange through a non-financial affiliate and then seek links with its brokerage business.

Among South Korea's five largest exchanges, Dunamu has partnered with Naver and Gopax has partnered with Binance. Mirae Asset Group plans to expand into digital asset custody and wealth management services through its acquisition of Korbit.

Debate during the legislative process for the Digital Asset Basic Act over limits on major shareholders' stakes in exchanges is expected to become a trigger for governance reshuffles in the market, including at Bithumb. The Financial Services Commission raised governance concerns that controlling shareholders exert excessive influence over exchange operations, following Bithumb's mistaken bitcoin payment incident.

In government-party consultations, authorities are discussing setting the major shareholder stake cap at 20 percent and allowing up to 34 percent through exceptions. The grace period is three years in principle, and exchanges with market share below a certain level can receive an extension of up to six years.

If the standards are finalised, Bithumb's top shareholder, which holds more than 70 percent, would have to forcibly sell more than 50 percent of its stake within three years. Rather than splitting up sales under regulatory pressure, selling control in a lump sum to a large financial firm with capital strength could be a realistic exit strategy for the top shareholder.

In that process, financial firms such as Korea Investment & Securities, which already have partnerships, could emerge as leading acquisition candidates. The industry says that if excess stakes held by top shareholders are sold, acquisition opportunities could open to financial institutions and the contract structure for providing real-name accounts could also change.

Brokerages are interested in exchanges because they can expand their business into custody, management and the issuance of tokenised securities (STO).

Results from similar overseas cases have been confirmed. U.S. firm Robinhood acquired Bitstamp in June 2024 for $200 million (about 260 billion won), after which operating profit increased and its stock rose 219.4 percent. Japan's online brokerage Monex also acquired Coincheck in 2018 for 3.6 billion yen (about 32 billion won), after which its stock rose 72.5 percent.

Still, regulatory uncertainty is cited as a challenge. With legislation on related systems such as the Digital Asset Basic Act continuing to be delayed, licensing and regulatory risks from authorities remain. Market uncertainty persists, including delays to the merger schedule between Dunamu and Naver Financial.

Kim Ji-won (김지원), an analyst at KB Securities, pointed out that there are technical limits to internalising blockchain financial infrastructure, and that security and operational risks must be resolved when combining it with existing brokerage systems.

Even so, brokerages' active review of exchange acquisitions is seen as a determination to secure a foothold in the future digital asset market, including tokenised securities, through pre-emptive investment.