Three Samsung affiliates have agreed to buy a 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, for a combined 612.8 billion won, or about $408 million. The shares are being sold by affiliates of tech conglomerate Kakao, according to filings reported on May 28, 2026. Samsung Securities is taking a 2% stake worth 306 billion won, while Samsung SDS and Samsung Card are each picking up 1%. The transactions are scheduled to close on June 19.
The deal marks one of the largest single-day institutional investments in a Korean crypto company and pushes Samsung Group, the country’s biggest chaebol, squarely into the on-shore digital asset market.
Key takeaways
- Three Samsung affiliates will pay 612.8 billion won ($408 million) for a combined 4% of Dunamu, with the deal closing June 19, 2026.
- Samsung Securities takes 2% for 306 billion won; Samsung SDS and Samsung Card each take 1%.
- Kakao has now sold roughly $1.5 billion of Dunamu equity in under a month as it trims crypto exposure.
- Upbit holds about 71.6% of Korea’s domestic crypto trading volume, around $1.12 billion per day as of April 2026.
Published: May 28, 2026 16:00 UTC
Why Samsung is buying into Korea’s biggest exchange
Samsung Securities, the brokerage arm of Samsung Group, said it wants to work with Dunamu on token securities, a regulated form of tokenized real-world assets that Korea’s Financial Services Commission has been preparing rules for since 2023. Token securities are blockchain-based representations of equities, debt, or other regulated financial instruments, traded under the same legal framework as conventional securities.
Samsung SDS, the conglomerate’s enterprise IT and cloud unit, said it plans to combine its AI, cloud, and cybersecurity stack with Dunamu’s blockchain infrastructure. Samsung Card, the group’s payments subsidiary, said it is exploring crypto-linked payment services on Samsung Financial Group’s Monimo platform, contingent on the rollout of won-denominated stablecoins that Korean regulators are still drafting rules for.
The strategic logic is the same logic that has driven Japanese and U.S. banks into crypto: own a piece of the rails before the regulated wave arrives. South Korea’s upcoming Digital Asset User Protection Act amendments and pending stablecoin framework are expected to formalize bank and brokerage participation in crypto markets within the next 12 months.
Why Kakao is selling
Kakao’s decision to offload more than $1.5 billion of Dunamu equity in under a month is the more telling part of the deal. Kakao was an early backer of Dunamu and held the stake through Kakao Investment and other affiliates. The selldown began after South Korea’s March 2026 ownership rules capped any single shareholder of an FIU-licensed exchange at 20%, with a three-year window to comply.
Kakao itself sat well below that cap, but the company has been under pressure to reduce non-core holdings as its core advertising and messaging revenue softened. Selling a high-multiple Dunamu stake to a buyer with regulatory standing, namely Samsung, lets Kakao book a sizable cash gain without provoking a market discount sale.
What Dunamu and Upbit get out of it
Dunamu emerges with a deeper bench of institutional shareholders at a moment when its valuation is in active negotiation. The company is in the middle of an all-stock acquisition by Naver Financial that values Dunamu at roughly 15.1 trillion won, or about $10.3 billion. The Samsung deal effectively reprices a slice of the cap table just weeks before that merger vote and gives Naver Financial a marquee co-shareholder if the combination closes.
Upbit’s market position remains dominant. Three FIU-licensed exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone, control essentially all won-denominated trading, and Upbit and Bithumb together hold roughly 90% of that volume. Dunamu reported Q3 2025 revenue of 38.59 billion won, up 103.8% year over year, on the back of renewed Korean retail trading volume.
Regulatory angle
Samsung’s entry will draw close scrutiny from the FSC and FIU. Under the March 2026 ownership rules, any shareholder above 10% in a licensed exchange must clear a fit-and-proper review, and any movement above 20% requires regulator sign-off. At 4% combined, the three Samsung affiliates sit well below the threshold, but the FSC is expected to ask for the group’s consolidated position, particularly given Samsung Securities’ existing brokerage license.
The bigger regulatory question is whether Samsung Card can launch crypto-linked card products before Korea finalizes its won-stablecoin framework. The FSC has signaled it wants a domestic stablecoin regime in place before bank-affiliated cards offer crypto rails, which would push the Samsung Card product into 2027.
What comes next
The deal is scheduled to close on June 19. Watch for three follow-ups in the next 30 to 60 days: a formal FSC review filing on the consolidated Samsung holding, an update on the Naver Financial-Dunamu merger vote, and any public statement from Samsung SDS or Samsung Securities on a token securities pilot. Korean lawmakers are also expected to advance the won-stablecoin bill in the National Assembly this summer, which will set the timeline for Samsung Card’s crypto payments ambitions.
FAQ
How much is Samsung paying for the Dunamu stake?
Three Samsung affiliates are paying a combined 612.8 billion won, or about $408 million, for a 4% stake in Dunamu. Samsung Securities accounts for half of that at 306 billion won for 2%, with Samsung SDS and Samsung Card each contributing for 1%. The transactions are set to close on June 19, 2026.
Why is Kakao selling its Dunamu shares?
Kakao has been trimming non-core holdings as its core ad and messaging revenue slows. It has sold about $1.5 billion of Dunamu equity in under a month. Selling to a regulated buyer like Samsung lets Kakao realize gains without forcing a discount sale, and avoids any concentration concerns under Korea’s new exchange ownership rules.
What is Dunamu’s valuation right now?
Dunamu is currently valued at about 15.1 trillion won, or $10.3 billion, in a pending all-stock acquisition by Naver Financial. The Samsung purchase is a secondary transaction at the cap table level, so it does not directly reset that valuation, but it gives the company a fresh institutional shareholder base ahead of the merger vote.
