Three Samsung affiliates are spending 612.8 billion won ($408 million) to buy a 4% stake in Dunamu, the company behind South Korea’s dominant crypto exchange Upbit, in a move aimed at accelerating their expansion into digital asset and blockchain-related businesses, according to Korea Herald.
Samsung Securities, the brokerage arm of Samsung Group, is taking a 2% stake. Samsung SDS, the conglomerate’s IT services division, and Samsung Card, its payments subsidiary, are each picking up 1%.
Together, they’re acquiring 1.39 million shares from a group of Kakao-affiliated investment vehicles in an all-cash block sale. The transaction is set to close June 19.
The sellers include Kakao Investment, Kakao Ventures, the Kakao Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, and the KIF–Kakao Woori Bank Technology Finance Investment Fund, all of which will fully divest their holdings in Dunamu through the block sale.
Each affiliate has a different reason for buying
