Hanwha Investment & Securities is moving to strengthen its digital finance business by acquiring additional shares in Dunamu.

Hanwha Investment & Securities said on Tuesday its board decided to acquire an additional 1,361,050 Dunamu shares held by Kakao Investment for about 597.8 billion won. The stake is 3.90 percent.

Once the transaction is completed, Hanwha Investment & Securities' stake in Dunamu will increase to 9.84 percent from 5.94 percent.

Hanwha Investment & Securities sees digital asset exchanges expanding their influence beyond simple brokerage functions into complex infrastructure businesses such as custody, settlement and institutional services. It decided on the additional investment to strengthen competitiveness in digital finance and secure business synergies.

The company plans to strengthen digital asset-related services and its value chain based on its investment in Dunamu, which leads South Korea's digital asset market.

Hanwha Investment & Securities is also accelerating efforts to expand its digital finance ecosystem with the goal of becoming a "global number one real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation hub". It has expanded its foundation by investing in U.S. web3 infrastructure firm Kresus and South Korea's digital asset data platform Xangle, among others.

Son Jong-min (손종민), managing director of Hanwha Investment & Securities' Future Strategy Office, said, "This additional investment is a major decision that reaffirms the company's strategic direction." He added, "We will create a new order for next-generation finance with the best technology companies like Dunamu."