Kiwoom in talks to buy stake in Bithumb

Kiwoom Securities is negotiating to acquire equity in crypto exchange Bithumb through a third-party allotment of newly issued shares. The arrangement would allow Kiwoom to purchase new Bithumb shares created and allocated to a specific investor.

No final agreement has been announced and the terms under discussion were not disclosed. Kiwoom and Bithumb were contacted for comment.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission plans to unveil a package of capital markets reforms in July that will include a framework for tokenized securities. The new rules stem from amendments to the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Securities Act, and the tokenized securities framework is scheduled to take full effect on Feb. 4, 2027. The regulator has incorporated token securities infrastructure into a wider overhaul of settlement and trading systems.

Bithumb is one of the country’s largest crypto exchanges by daily trading volume. Several traditional financial firms in South Korea have recently bought stakes in local exchanges or their operators. On May 29, Korea Investment & Securities and OKX Ventures agreed to invest a combined 160 billion won (about $106 million) to acquire a 19.6% stake in Coinone. On May 28, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card acquired a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of the Upbit exchange, for about 612.8 billion won (roughly $408 million). On May 15, Hana Financial Group agreed to buy a 6.55% stake in Dunamu from Kakao Investment for more than $668 million. In February, Mirae Asset Consulting agreed to acquire a 92.06% stake in Korbit for 133.48 billion won (about $93 million).

Regulatory changes scheduled for 2027 will place tokenized securities under the capital markets framework and set timelines for integrating blockchain-based instruments with existing settlement and trading systems.