Hana Bank Buys $672.5 Million Stake in Upbit Owner

South Korean bank Hana Bank plans to buy a $672.5 million stake in Dunamu, the operator of the Upbit cryptocurrency exchange, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (May 14).

The planned purchase will take place June 15 and will give the bank a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, according to the report, which cited a statement from Hana Bank parent company Hana Financial Group and a regulatory filing.

Hana Bank will buy the shares from Kakao, an internet company, the report said.

Hana Financial Group Chairman and CEO Ham Young-joo said in the report that the planned purchase is “a strategic decision to accelerate financial innovation based on digital assets.”

Hana and Dunamu have been developing a blockchain-based overseas remittance service, and the two companies have already agreed to jointly develop new business models, per the report.

CoinDesk also reported on the planned transaction, saying the deal will make Hana Bank the fourth-largest shareholder in Dunamu, behind only Dunamu’s founders and Kakao’s remaining stake.

Hana and Dunamu plan to collaborate on won-pegged stablecoins, blockchain remittances, tokenized securities, asset management and other digital asset initiatives, according to the report.

Dunamu handles more than 80% of the virtual asset trading volume in South Korea and announced in November that it plans to merge with Naver Financial, per the report.

Bloomberg reported that Hana Bank’s investment in Dunamu is the latest sign that South Korea’s banks are ready to embrace digital assets. It said that South Korean lender Woori Bank announced in April that it would collaborate with MoonPay on a won-backed stablecoin.

It was reported in November that the tech and cryptocurrency industries in South Korea were beginning to converge and that the country’s regulators were signaling their openness to innovation.

The report said the combination of Dunamu and Naver could speed up the adoption of digital assets in commerce and finance because Dunamu’s Upbit crypto exchange is South Korea’s largest and the Naver Pay digital wallet is one of the most widely used such products in South Korea.

More than one-third of South Korea’s population, or 18 million people, trade digital assets, per the report.