Samsung has decided to strengthen its position in South Korea’s crypto ecosystem. Three entities under the Samsung umbrella are collectively grabbing a four percent stake in Dunamu, the parent company of the Upbit exchange. The deal will cost Samsung around $408 million (KRW 612.8 billion), South Korean publication Yonhap News reported on Thursday.
Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card are the three entities that will be participating in this acquisition. As per reports, Samsung Securities will hold two percent of Dunamu leaving the other two units with one percent each.
The 1.39 million Dunamu shares that will now be part of Samsung’s kitty, belonged to South Korean Internet major, Kakao that initially held 10.58 percent stake in the crypto firm. Earlier this month, Kakao decided to offload 6.55 percent stake in Dunamu — selling it to Hana Financial Group for $668 million.
Samsung’s investmeing in Dunamu comes at a time when the Upbit-parent is set to merge with the payments division of Naver, a South Korea-based search engine mammoth, The merger will value the combined entity at an estimate of $13.6 billion and is expected to bring an array of financial services — including crypto — to the market within a unified brandname. The merger is slated for completion by June this year.
For Samsung, the Web3 space has been an attractive avenue for a while now.
In 2023, Samsung Asset Management had started listing its Bitcoin Futures Exchange Traded Fund (ETFs) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 2024, it had also amped up its offerings within the Web3 arena with partnerships with metaverse players like the Wilder World gaming platform
In South Korea, the use of blockchain is clocking a visible growth, with the government stirring regular discussions around crypto regulations. Services related to payments, custody, and trading are expected to see improvement in the country with blockchain integration.
The country is now tightening its noose around loose crypto operations. Upbit itself, was fined for $26.5 million, for violating KYC and AML rules. Laster in April this year, the penalties were cancelled by a Seoul court citing unclear government guidelines.
At this point, Samsung’s strategy to dive deeper into Web3 in South Korea could position it among prominent players.
An official confirmation on the reports from Samsung remains awaited for now. Yonhap has, however, reported that the smartphone titan is actively looking to explore business opportunities in the digital assets arena.