Three Samsung affiliates will purchase a 4% stake in Dunamu, the company behind South Korea's largest crypto exchange, Upbit.
According to multiple local news media reports, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card announced Thursday that they will acquire 1.39 million shares in Dunamu for approximately 613 billion Korean won ($407.7 million).
Samsung Securities will acquire a 2% stake in Dunamu, while the other two affiliates will each purchase 1% in the company, per the reports. South Korean IT giant Kakao previously owned the shares.
Samsung Securities will reportedly collaborate with Dunamu on the issuance and distribution of tokenized securities and other digital asset services, while Samsung SDS, the group's IT and logistics subsidiary, seeks to leverage Dunamu's blockchain operational expertise in expanding its capabilities in AI, cloud, security, and data management. Dunamu operates Giwa, its Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain, which is currently in the testnet phase.
Meanwhile, Samsung Card is poised to work with Dunamu to develop a digital asset payment ecosystem on its financial services app, Monimo, in preparation for the upcoming regulatory framework on stablecoins.
The Block has confirmed the news with Dunamu.
Samsung's acquisition of Dunamu shares comes just two weeks after Hana Bank, one of the largest banks in South Korea, announced that it is acquiring a 6.55% stake in Dunamu with roughly 1 trillion won ($670 million).
Dunamu is currently processing a merger-acquisition with Naver Financial, the financial services arm under IT conglomerate Naver.
These developments are part of a broader wave of mainstream financial institutions in South Korea making major investments in crypto platforms. Mirae Asset, another financial services giant, announced in February that it would buy a 92% stake in the Korbit crypto exchange.
KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan, and other major financial institutions have also been aggressively forming partnerships and running proof-of-concepts with crypto firms for won-pegged stablecoins, tokenized securities, and on-chain payments.
Local legislators and authorities are currently developing a comprehensive set of rules for crypto, named the Digital Asset Basic Act, which includes guidelines for local stablecoin operations.
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