Mirae Asset Consulting has taken majority control of Korbit, South Korea’s oldest cryptocurrency exchange, marking the first time an affiliate of a major Korean financial group has run a domestic crypto platform.
Key Takeaways
- Mirae Asset Consulting raised its Korbit stake to 97.15% in a deal worth about 141.4 billion won.
- South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission cleared the deal on July 9, 2026, citing Korbit’s 0.5% market share.
- Korbit is rebranding as Digital X, aiming to link stablecoins, RWAs and stocks under Mirae Asset 3.0.
The firm closed the deal in July 2026 after South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission approved it on July 9. Regulators found the acquisition unlikely to restrict competition, citing Korbit’s roughly 0.5% share of Korea’s crypto trading market in 2025.
Deal Terms
According to the Korean Herald, Mirae Asset Consulting initially secured about 92% of Korbit. It then bought an additional 5.42% stake, raising its total ownership to 97.15%. The combined investment reached approximately 141.4 billion won, or roughly $95 million to $102 million depending on the exchange rate applied.
Korbit was founded in 2013. It trails market leaders Upbit and Bithumb by a wide margin in trading volume. Mirae Asset says Korbit’s operating entity, user deposits and core trading services will stay unchanged for now, with customer assets held separately under existing protection rules.
Mirae Asset Financial Group reported about $1 trillion in client assets under management as of May 2026.
A New Name and a Wider Plan
Korbit is being renamed Digital X. Mirae Asset founder and Global Strategy Officer Park Hyeon-joo told employees the “X” represents “an uncharted future and the limitless possibilities created when different forms of value intersect and converge.”
Park described Digital X as central to what the firm calls Mirae Asset 3.0, a strategy meant to connect real-world asset tokenization, security token offerings, stablecoins, traditional securities and digital assets on a single platform.
The company says Digital X will function as an “intelligent investment platform” combining research, investor education and institutional-grade compliance systems, including anti-money-laundering, know-your-customer and fraud detection tools.
Not Chasing Volume
Mirae Asset has said directly that Digital X is not built to overtake Upbit or Bithumb on trading volume. Instead, the company is positioning the platform as infrastructure, pairing its securities and asset management background with Korbit’s digital asset operations.
Park invoked Bitcoin’s shift from skepticism to mainstream acceptance, saying the industry must now “write the next chapter of finance.” He added that “trust takes a lifetime to build but can collapse in an instant” and called compliance “an absolute standard that cannot be compromised.”
The move follows Mirae Asset’s earlier launch of the Mirae Asset Portfolio Service in Hong Kong, a platform built to integrate traditional and digital assets for global clients.
What Comes Next
Full integration of tokenized real-world assets, security token offerings and stablecoins remains a stated goal rather than a completed build. Execution will depend on how Korean regulators handle digital asset rules in the months ahead.
For now, Digital X operates with Korbit’s existing licenses and user base, while Mirae Asset works to fold a regulated brokerage playbook into a crypto exchange still finding its footing against much larger domestic rivals.