Hana Financial Becomes Dunamu's Fourth-Largest Shareholder... First Alliance Between Crypto and Banking [Crypto Briefing]

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[Financial News] Hana Financial Group has acquired a stake in Dunamu Inc., the operator of the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit. It is the first time a major domestic commercial bank has bought a large stake in a crypto exchange.
According to the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on the 15th, Hana Bank, a subsidiary of Hana Financial Group Inc., decided to acquire 2,284,000 shares of Dunamu Inc. for 103.251568 billion won in cash.
The shares will be purchased from Kakao Investment, and the expected acquisition date is the 15th of next month. Hana Bank disclosed that the purpose of the acquisition was to secure competitiveness in new finance through a strategic equity investment.
With a 6.55% stake, Hana Bank will become Dunamu's fourth-largest shareholder. Dunamu is currently owned by Chairman Song Chi-hyung (25.51%), Vice Chairman Kim Hyoung-nyon (13.10%), Woori Technology Investment (7.20%) and others.
The acquisition is expected to accelerate broader cooperation between the two companies, centered on the Korean won stablecoin. In December last year, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop financial services using blockchain technology. In February this year, they also carried out a Proof of Concept (PoC) for a blockchain-based foreign currency remittance service.
Last month, the companies also decided, through a three-way business cooperation agreement with POSCO International, to push ahead with building financial infrastructure using GIWA Chain, a layer-2 blockchain developed by Dunamu.
Earlier, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo said in his New Year’s address for 2023 that the group would "actively invest in non-financial sectors such as virtual assets," showing an early willingness to respond to changes in the future environment.
Meanwhile, regardless of this acquisition, Dunamu plans to continue its relationship with K Bank, which partners with Upbit for deposit and withdrawal accounts.
yimsh0214@fnnews.com Lim Sang-hyuk Reporter