Naver Financial Acquires Upbit in Landmark South Korean Tech-Digital Finance Merger
South Korea's digital finance landscape just got reshuffled—hard.
THE DEAL THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING
Naver Financial snaps up cryptocurrency giant Upbit, creating a tech-finance behemoth that blurs traditional industry lines. The merger combines Naver's fintech infrastructure with Upbit's massive crypto trading volume, positioning the new entity to dominate Asia's digital asset markets.
REGULATORS SCRAMBLING
Watchdogs at Korea's Financial Services Commission now face their biggest test yet—overseeing a hybrid monster that spans search, e-commerce, banking, and now cryptocurrency exchange operations. Traditional banks are already lobbying against what they call 'unfair advantage' in the newly merged entity.
MARKET DOMINATION IMMINENT
The acquisition immediately creates Korea's largest digital finance platform, with Upbit's 80% market share in crypto trading now backed by Naver's 45 million monthly active users. Competitors face an uphill battle against this newly formed titan's integrated ecosystem.
Because when tech giants start playing banker, everyone else gets demoted to teller—welcome to the future of finance, where your search history might soon determine your credit limit.
Naver to take control of Upbit via stock swap
A stock swap allows two companies to exchange shares, creating a governance structure similar to that of a parent and subsidiary. Much different from traditional mergers financed in cash, it enables an acquisition by using equity as the primary vehicle, effectively folding Dunamu under Naver’s fintech umbrella.
Upbit, launched in 2017, is ranked as South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and users, with more than 180 listed assets and over 300 trading pairs. Naver Pay is among the most popular digital wallets in the country, competing with Kakao Pay, Toss, and major banks.
Both sides see the deal as a springboard for a deeper push into the financial services industry, including South Korea’s stablecoin market.
Naver Financial already processes annual payment volumes worth 80 trillion won ($58 billion), as it is one of the country’s most used digital wallets. Using its reach with Upbit’s $2.9 billion daily volumes would make it the fourth-largest crypto exchange in trading activity.
A source with knowledge of the stock swap deal said the new entity will cover nearly every corner of consumer finance, including shopping, payments, and crypto trading at large.
The companies have previously cooperated on the development of a won-pegged stablecoin. Sources close to the talks said that the planned merger will see the two firms formalize those efforts and will further pursue international business and partnerships in the coming months.
“The two companies are each expected to soon hold board meetings to approve the comprehensive stock swap,” a person familiar with the matter told reporters in a press briefing earlier today.
Rival Bithumb signs US partnership during Blockchain Week
The announcement comes against the backdrop of the Korea Blockchain Week, a digital assets conference taking place in Seoul, hosted by Web3 ecosystem developer FACTBLOCK.
On Wednesday, Bithumb, the country’s second-largest crypto exchange and Upbit’s main domestic rival, unveiled a partnership with World Liberty Financial, the US President Donald TRUMP family crypto venture.
World Liberty Financial plans to launch a debit card and retail application “very soon,” co-founder Zak Folkman said during a panel at the conference. In collaboration with Bithumb, the card could link the WLFI’s stablecoin, USD1, with payment platforms from the US, including integration with Apple Pay.
According to the company, the retail application will merge peer-to-peer transfers with trading functions. The partnership was formalized through a memorandum of understanding with Bithumb.
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