South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) has cleared Mirae Asset Consulting's acquisition of Korbit, paving the way for a major financial group to enter the crypto space. Under the deal, Mirae Asset will acquire a 92% stake in Korbit for approximately 133.4 billion won ($88.5 billion).
Korbit is a relatively small player in South Korea's crypto market, holding just 0.5% of the country's crypto trading volume last year. The KFTC determined that the acquisition would not substantially reduce competition due to Korbit's limited scale and the existing concentration in the market.
The deal is expected to strengthen the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets, allowing Mirae Asset to combine its brokerage and asset management businesses with a crypto trading service. This could eventually support new investment products, including digital asset-based exchange-traded funds, although Korbit would need to improve its liquidity first.