Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea's four largest banking conglomerates, on May 15 approved the purchase of 2,284,000 Dunamu shares from Kakao Investment for 1.033 trillion won ($670 million), acquiring a 6.55% stake in the operator of Upbit — the country's dominant cryptocurrency exchange....
"This investment is a strategic move to accelerate financial innovation in digital assets." — Ham Young-joo, Chairman, Hana Financial Group
Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea's four largest banking conglomerates, on May 15 approved the purchase of 2,284,000 Dunamu shares from Kakao Investment for 1.033 trillion won ($670 million), acquiring a 6.55% stake in the operator of Upbit — the country's dominant cryptocurrency exchange. The deal is the largest single investment by a Korean commercial bank in a digital asset company and values Dunamu at approximately 15.8 trillion won ($10.2 billion).
The transaction arrives one week before Dunamu shareholders vote on a separate $10.3 billion all-stock merger with Naver Financial, scheduled for May 22. It also lands amid a broader reconfiguration of South Korea's financial sector around digital assets: all four of the nation's largest banking groups have now established dedicated crypto task forces, KB Kookmin has filed 81 stablecoin-related trademarks, and an eight-bank consortium is mobilizing to issue a Korean won-backed stablecoin pending regulatory clarity from the Digital Asset Basic Act.
Hana Bank is acquiring 2,284,000 shares of Dunamu from Kakao Investment, the wholly owned investment arm of Korean internet conglomerate Kakao Corp. The purchase price of 1.033 trillion won ($670 million) makes Hana the fourth-largest shareholder in Dunamu behind founder and Chair Song Chi-hyung (25.51%), Vice Chair Kim Hyoung-nyon (13.1%), and Woori Technology (7.2%).
Kakao's exit is lucrative. The conglomerate invested a cumulative 35.5 billion won in Dunamu since backing the company at its 2012 founding — placing the realized return at approximately 300x. Kakao Investment's remaining stake falls to roughly 4% post-sale. Kakao stated the divestiture is "aimed at securing funds for future investments."
The deal is expected to close in June 2026. Alongside the equity transaction, Hana and Dunamu signed a strategic memorandum of understanding covering four areas: SWIFT-based foreign currency remittances running on Dunamu's Giwa blockchain (proof of concept completed February 2026); a won-backed stablecoin development partnership; a wealth management product linking Upbit with Hana Financial's fund, pension, and trust infrastructure; and global digital asset expansion initiatives. A three-way partnership with steelmaker Posco International was added in April 2026 to explore blockchain-based trade finance.
Dunamu operates Upbit, which commands roughly 80% of South Korea's won-denominated crypto trading volume. Together with Bithumb, the two exchanges hold approximately 87% of domestic market share, with Coinone trailing at around 10%.
Financial results for Dunamu in recent periods:
| Metric | 2024 Full Year | Q3 2025 | 2025 Full Year | |--------|---------------|---------|----------------| | Revenue | 1.73 trillion won ($1.2B) | 385.9 billion won ($265M) | ~1.56 trillion won (~$1.0B) | | Operating Income | 1.19 trillion won | 235.2 billion won | — | | Net Profit | 983.8 billion won | 239 billion won ($165M) | 708.9 billion won ($468M) | | YoY Revenue Change | +70.5% | +103.8% | -10% |
Full-year 2025 net profit fell 27.9% to 708.9 billion won ($468 million), which Dunamu attributed to lower crypto trading volumes relative to the prior year's peak. Q3 2025 trading volume on Upbit reached 286.4 trillion won, nearly double the year-ago figure, according to The Block. However, the broader market has since cooled significantly.
The Hana transaction occurs against the backdrop of a much larger structural event: Naver Financial's announced acquisition of Dunamu in an all-stock deal valued at approximately 15.1 trillion won ($10.3 billion). Each Dunamu share will be exchanged at a ratio of 2.54 Naver Financial shares.
Key dates for the Naver-Dunamu merger:
The merger requires approvals from the Fair Trade Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service under the Act on the Use and Protection of Credit Information. If completed, the combined entity would create what analysts describe as a "super app" integrating Upbit's crypto trading with Naver's search, messaging, shopping, and digital payment ecosystem.
Hana's timing — buying in just days before the Naver shareholder vote — suggests the banking group views the pending merger as enhancing rather than threatening its strategic position. Hana's 6.55% stake would convert into Naver Financial shares upon completion, giving the bank equity exposure to the combined platform.
Hana's move is the most aggressive action to date, but all four of South Korea's major banking groups have activated digital asset strategies in 2026:
Hana Financial Group: Beyond the Dunamu stake, Hana Financial TI completed a Korean won-backed stablecoin proof of concept on XRP Ledger (XRPL), collaborating with XRPL Korea and Axelar. In March 2026, Hana partnered with Circle and Crypto.com to pilot USDC-funded Visa card payments for foreign visitors to South Korea. Chairman Ham Young-joo has established a group-wide digital asset task force and is advancing plans to secure a digital custody license through a joint venture with BitGo Korea.
KB Kookmin Bank: Filed 81 stablecoin-related trademarks — 32 for Korean won pairs and 49 for foreign currency pairs — with ticker symbols including KBKRW, KRWKB, KBST, and KRWST. KB is running a virtual asset consultative body across affiliates spanning insurance, securities, and asset management. KB also filed a patent for a stablecoin credit card.
Shinhan Bank: Assembled a 20-member crypto task force and is running stablecoin settlement pilots tied to the Bank of Korea's central bank digital currency (CBDC) project.
Woori Bank: Established a Digital Asset Team under its New Business Alliance Platform Department. Woori plans to jointly launch "Vitgo Korea," a stablecoin-focused custodian venture with foreign partners. Woori Technology already holds a 7.2% stake in Dunamu, making it the third-largest shareholder.
At least six distinct groups are competing to issue a Korean won-backed stablecoin, according to Seoulz, a Korean fintech publication:
The Bank of Korea has pushed for a "51% rule" requiring commercial banks to hold majority equity stakes in any stablecoin issuer. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) opposes this model, citing the EU's MiCA framework — under which 14 of 15 licensed stablecoin issuers are electronic money institutions rather than banks — and Japan's fintech-led yen stablecoin projects as counter-examples. This regulatory deadlock remains unresolved.
South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act, the "Phase 2" legislation building on the Virtual Asset User Protection Act (effective July 2024), advanced through the National Assembly on April 8, 2026. The Act establishes:
Implementation is targeted for late 2026 or 2027 following further consultations. The stalemate between the Bank of Korea's bank-led model and the FSC's fintech-inclusive approach has been the primary source of delay.
The deal arrives during a period of significant market contraction in Korean crypto trading. According to data compiled by CoinDesk and The Block:
Hana and its peers are, in effect, building infrastructure during a down market — betting that the regulatory framework, once settled, will unlock institutional and retail demand that has been constrained by legal ambiguity and capital flight.
The convergence of Hana Financial's $670 million Dunamu stake, the pending $10.3 billion Naver merger, and the Big 4 banks' parallel stablecoin programs marks a structural shift in how South Korea's financial establishment relates to digital assets. This is no longer exploratory or reputational positioning. The commitments are denominated in hundreds of millions and billions of dollars, backed by MOUs, custody ventures, and trademark filings that presume a regulatory framework will eventually materialize.
The unresolved question is whether that framework — specifically, the Digital Asset Basic Act's stablecoin provisions — will favor the bank-led model the Bank of Korea wants or the fintech-inclusive approach the FSC advocates. Until that is settled, the banks are building the machinery and acquiring the equity stakes to ensure they are positioned regardless of outcome. At 50% below peak holdings and with $110 billion in capital having already left the country, the current Korean crypto market is smaller than what these institutions are underwriting. They are not investing in the market as it is. They are investing in the market they expect regulation to create.