- Korea Investment & Securities reportedly wants to buy Coinone.
- Rival securities firm Mirae Asset looking to finalise Korbit takeover.
- Pivot to crypto follows tokenisation standstill, says expert.
The South Korean securities heavyweight Korea Investment & Securities is reportedly exploring a deal to acquire Coinone, South Korea’s third biggest crypto exchange.
KIS’ holding company, Korea Investment Holdings, has an estimated market cap of up to $8.5 billion. Experts say KIS and domestic rivals are pivoting to crypto as they have grown tired of waiting for the government to roll out tokenisation legislation.
Brokerages have put their tokenisation plans on hold as they await legislation-related developments in the National Assembly, an unnamed securities industry official told South Korean newspaper Korea Herald, adding: “Firms are instead accelerating their efforts in crypto.”
If KIS does end up acquiring Coinone, it could find itself locked in competition with one of its closest securities rivals. Mirae Asset, South Korea’s biggest securities provider, is looking to complete a deal to buy the Korbit crypto exchange in the weeks ahead.
Coinone’s ‘collaboration proposals’
Multiple South Korean media outlets have reported KIS’ interest in the deal, all citing anonymous industry sources.
Both Coinone and KIS remain cagey on the matter, however, refusing to comment on the veracity or otherwise of these reports.
“We are interested in the digital asset business,” a KIS official told South Korean newspaper Daily Hankook. “Nothing has been decided regarding this matter yet.”
“As interest in the crypto sector increases, we are receiving various collaboration proposals,” a Coinone spokesperson told the same media outlet. “We have discussed collaboration proposals with various entities as we keep our options open.”
The Coinone representative said the firm had not yet decided on any “specific collaboration models, methods, or partnerships.”
The news comes just weeks after South Korean media outlets reported the US crypto exchange titan Coinbase was exploring a possible Coinone takeover.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is trading for $69,777 on Monday, up by over 4% over the past 24 hours.
- Ethereum prices are up by over 5% today, with traders currently paying $2,153 per coin.
What we’re reading
- How Ethereum’s biggest conference exposes crypto’s identity crisis — DL News
- Clarity Act could die, expert warns, but crypto lobbyists say bill has ‘meaningful momentum’ — DL News
- Tokenised finance is a double-edged sword without proper oversight, IMF warns — DL News
- What to know about OpenAI’s ideas for a world with ‘superintelligence’ — Wall Street Journal
- AI stocks vs. crypto: a mispricing? — Milk Road
- Charles Schwab to debut Bitcoin and Ethereum trading — DL News
Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.
