The Tamesis
Dunamu operates Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.
SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
South Korean internet giant Kakao is partially exiting its early investment in cryptocurrency exchange operator Dunamu, selling a stake worth 1 trillion won ($670 million) to domestic commercial bank Hana Bank.
Kakao said in a stock exchange filing on Friday that its investment arm Kakao Investment will sell a 6.55% stake in Dunamu. Hana Bank, a unit of Hana Financial Group, will buy the shares in cash, the South Korean banking giant said in a separate filing. The deal is expected to close in June.
After the transaction is completed, Kakao’s shareholding ratio in Dunamu will drop from 10.58% to 4.03%. The company said the stock sale was aimed at “securing funds for future investments.” Meanwhile, Hana Bank said it invested in Dunamu to “ensure the competitiveness of new finance.” The lender has been expanding into digital assets and in March partnered with cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com to promote stablecoin payments for foreign tourists in South Korea.
Kakao, controlled by billionaire Kim Beom-su, first invested in Dunamu in 2013, a year after the Seoul-based company was founded. At the time, Dunamu was a news aggregator. It pivoted into fintech with the launch of stock trading platform StockPlus in 2014, followed by cryptocurrency exchange Upbit in 2017. Since then, Upbit has grown to become South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume. Upbit’s success has made Dunamu’s co-founders Song Chi-hyung and Kim Hyoung-nyon among the world’s billionaires.
Kakao’s divestment follows Dunamu’s landmark merger with the payments unit of South Korean search giant Naver. The merger is scheduled to close in June, valuing the combined entity at $13.6 billion. It is poised to create a domestic fintech giant, offering a range of financial services from payments and insurance to cryptocurrency and securities trading.
