Naver Financial Eyes Strategic Stake in South Korea’s Dominant Crypto Exchange Upbit

Naver Financial makes power play for Upbit stake—positioning to dominate Korea's crypto infrastructure.

Strategic Gambit

The move signals Naver's aggressive pivot into digital assets, leveraging Upbit's market-leading position. Industry analysts note the timing coincides with renewed institutional interest in crypto.

Regulatory Chessboard

Any deal would face scrutiny from Korea's Financial Services Commission—traditional finance gatekeepers who've historically viewed crypto with... creative skepticism. The FSA's approval process remains the ultimate hurdle.

Market Domination Play

Securing Upbit would give Naver control over Korea's largest crypto liquidity pool. Competitors already scrambling to counter what could become an unassailable market position.

Because when traditional finance finally wakes up to crypto, they don't innovate—they just buy the innovators. Classic move.

How the share-swap works

A share-swap is a way for two companies to combine their governance without merging completely. One company becomes the parent, while the other becomes its subsidiary. Under the reported plan, Naver Financial WOULD issue new shares to Dunamu’s current investors in exchange for their holdings, with both sides determining the share values.

Naver currently holds around 75% of Naver Financial. If the swap goes ahead, Dunamu would become a wholly owned subsidiary, bringing Naver, Naver Pay, and Dunamu under one structure, linking payment services and cryptocurrency operations.

The main shareholders of Dunamu are Chairman Song Chi-hyung (about 25.5%), Vice Chairman Kim Hyung-nyeon (13.1%), Kakao Investment (10.6%), Woori Technology Investment (7.2%), and Hanwha Investment & Securities (5.9%).

Further, in the same report, Dunamu’s CEO, Oh Kyung-seok, said, “Digital assets such as stablecoins are an undeniable trend. As stablecoins proliferate, related infrastructure, such as chains and wallets, will become popular, and financial services such as payments and asset management will transition to Web3-based blockchain services.”

Following this news, NAVER Corporation’s share price surged 9.65%, reaching ₩250,000, up from the previous close of ₩228,000, as per Yahoo Finance.

The discussions also come as the South Korean government is preparing rules for won-pegged stablecoins. On September 9, 2025, Upbit launched a test version of its ethereum layer-2 blockchain, Giwa (Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access). Built on Optimism’s OP Stack, it processes transactions in one second per block using Ethereum’s security.

Also Read: South Korea Reports Increase in Suspicious crypto Transactions