Korea Investment Securities is known to be pursuing a stake investment in Coinone together with global digital asset exchange OKX. The move by a major financial company and a global exchange to jointly invest in a domestic won-based exchange has heightened industry interest in whether it will be finalised.

Industry sources said on May 15 that Korea Investment Securities and OKX are discussing a plan to acquire about 20 percent of Coinone each.

The investment is likely to be structured around the issuance of new shares rather than the sale of existing shareholders' stakes, known as a secondary sale, sources said. As the structure would bring fresh funds directly into Coinone, the investment is seen as having a strong financial-investment character rather than aiming to take management control.

Coinone's main shareholders are The One Group with 34.30 percent, Com2uS Holdings with 21.95 percent, Chief Executive Cha Myung-hoon (차명훈) with 19.14 percent and Com2uS Plus with 16.47 percent. Cha, Coinone's founder, is also the largest shareholder of The One Group.

OKX is regarded as one of the major global digital asset exchanges alongside Binance and Coinbase. If OKX takes part in a stake investment in Coinone, it is expected to have a significant impact in terms of entering South Korea's digital asset market.

The industry has also seen speculation that OKX may not stop at a simple financial investment and could later consider taking part in management or securing substantial influence. In that case, it could become the second instance of a major overseas exchange attempting to secure management control of a domestic won-based exchange, following Binance's acquisition of a stake in Streami (Gopax).

Still, a key variable is the direction of legal and institutional reforms being coordinated by the ruling party and the government, including limits on stakes held by major shareholders of digital asset exchanges. Depending on how the system is designed, the way overseas exchanges and financial companies invest in stakes and the possibility of management participation could change.

Moves to combine with financial companies have recently continued among South Korea's digital asset exchanges. Mirae Asset Group affiliate Mirae Asset Consulting has decided to acquire a 92.06 percent stake in Korbit for 133.5 billion won and is awaiting the outcome of the Fair Trade Commission's corporate combination review.

Hana Bank also said on the day it would acquire a 6.55 percent stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, for 1.0033 trillion won to jointly pursue foreign-currency remittances and a won-denominated stablecoin business.

Coinone said it is discussing partnerships, including strategic equity investments, with multiple companies, but there are no decided matters at all at this time.