[DigitalToday reporter Sangyeop Oh (오상엽)] As partnerships between securities firms and digital asset exchanges expand from equity investments into service tie-ups and acquisitions, financial authorities have begun reviewing the principle of “separating finance and virtual assets.”

On Aug. 10, the financial investment industry said the Korea Financial Investment Association recently sent brokerages a business letter at the request of the Financial Supervisory Service outlining precautions when pursuing digital asset-related work.

The association said partnerships between securities firms and digital asset exchanges are increasing. It said services could be restricted if business plans violate the separation principle or amount to outsourced work.

It also asked firms to conduct their own legal reviews and consult in advance with the supervisory service when linking mobile trading systems, home trading systems and web trading systems with exchange services.

The supervisory service said it does not intend to restrict securities firms’ digital asset-related work itself. Still, detailed criteria defining what is permitted or restricted have not been presented, leaving operators to design service structures and then undergo legal review and consultations with authorities.

The request for advance checks comes as capital and service linkages between brokerages and exchanges expand at the same time.

Korea Investment & Securities invested 80 billion won in Coinone in May to secure about a 20 percent stake. The Financial Intelligence Unit under the Financial Services Commission accepted on July 22 Coinone’s filing to report a change in its largest shareholder following the addition of Korea Investment & Securities and OKX Ventures as shareholders.

Two days later, Coinone introduced a “stock investment” menu in its application that allows users to move to Korea Investment & Securities’ web trading system. It links to the brokerage’s external trading service rather than providing stock trading directly within the Coinone app.

Securities firms’ equity investments in exchange operators have also continued. Hanwha Investment & Securities decided in May to acquire an additional 3.90 percent stake in Dunamu for about 597.8 billion won. Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card also decided to acquire a combined 4.0 percent stake in Dunamu held by a Kakao affiliate for 612.8 billion won.

Links between financial groups and exchanges have also expanded into acquisitions of management control. Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of Mirae Asset Group, expanded its acquisition of a stake in Korbit to 97.15 percent, it disclosed last month. The total acquisition amount is about 141.4 billion won.

When the Fair Trade Commission approved the business combination on July 9, the stake slated for initial acquisition that was subject to review was 92.06 percent. Mirae Asset Consulting raised its planned holding to 97.15 percent to reflect additional acquisitions after the commission’s approval.

The commission judged that Korbit’s market share was about 0.5 percent based on 2025 trading volume, so the likelihood of restricting competition was not high. It viewed the deal as the first case of a financial group affiliate acquiring a digital asset exchange.

Naver Financial and Dunamu are pushing to combine through a comprehensive share exchange. If the deal is completed, Dunamu will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Naver Financial. The combination has not yet been completed.

According to disclosures, the companies’ shareholder meetings are scheduled for Nov. 19 and the share exchange is scheduled for Dec. 31.

Kakao and Kiwoom Securities are also reported to be reviewing ways to secure a foundation for a digital asset business, including the possibility of investing in Bithumb, but they said nothing has been specifically decided.

As links between financial firms and exchanges take a wider variety of forms, the scope of reviews by relevant agencies is also expanding. The Fair Trade Commission reviews the potential for business combinations to restrict competition, and the Financial Intelligence Unit examines filings on changes to exchanges’ largest shareholders and executives. The Financial Supervisory Service checks brokerages’ scope of work, whether activities amount to outsourced work and potential violations of the separation principle.

The separation principle is not a single regulation explicitly written into law. It is a policy stance that followed the government’s 2017 announcement of a policy to ban financial firms from holding, purchasing or taking digital assets as collateral, or investing in equity stakes.

Given that financial firms’ investments in exchange stakes have recently been repeatedly completed, it is difficult to interpret this as a blanket ban, but criteria remain unclear on what is allowed depending on stake size, management participation, platform linkage and the level of customer information use.

An industry official said, “Combinations between financial firms and exchanges are already proceeding in many forms, but there are insufficient criteria for businesses to judge in advance what structures are allowed.” The official added, “Specific criteria are needed that distinguish equity investment, management participation, platform linkage and customer information use.”