Mirae Asset Consulting is injecting ₩50 billion ($35.3 million) into Digital X, the crypto exchange formerly known as Korbit, News1 first reported, after its board approved a third-party share sale on August 12. Mirae Asset Consulting will take all 10,078,614 new shares, priced at ₩4,961 each, with payment due August 27. A Digital X representative declined to confirm the raise when asked about it this week.
Digital X itself gave a reason for the raise in a separate statement: to meet “management objectives, such as improving the financial structure and urgent fundraising.” It did not elaborate further.
The money arrives not quite three weeks after Mirae Asset formally renamed the exchange and set out a vision for its future. It also arrives on top of results that explain why the exchange might need it.
Eight Straight Years in the Red
Digital X booked ₩9.8 billion in operating revenue in 2025 against a ₩15.4 billion operating loss, a loss about 57% larger than everything the exchange earned that year. Its net loss came to ₩15.76 billion, widened by losses on the digital assets it holds on its own books. Customer deposits fell 31% over the year, from ₩129.2 billion to ₩89.7 billion. 2025 was the eighth consecutive year the exchange has posted an operating loss.
A Fine, Then a Takeover
Two months before Mirae Asset agreed to buy in, Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit fined the exchange, then still Korbit, ₩2.73 billion over roughly 22,000 anti-money-laundering and customer-verification violations found during an October 2024 inspection. The FIU issued an institutional warning alongside the fine and moved to discipline senior executives. Mirae Asset proceeded with the deal in the months that followed, with the enforcement record already public.
A Vision, Weeks Old, Meets a Marginal Business
On July 23, Mirae Asset Group global strategy officer Park Hyeon-joo told employees the exchange would become Digital X and operate as what he called an intelligent investment platform, built around tokenizing real world assets, security token offerings and stablecoins. He called it the core axis of what Mirae Asset is branding its 3.0 phase and said compliance would be treated as non-negotiable.
That platform would run on a business Korea’s Fair Trade Commission itself called marginal. In clearing the acquisition, the regulator cited Korbit’s roughly 0.5% share of the domestic crypto trading market in 2025 as evidence the deal posed no meaningful competition risk.
From Nexon to SK to Mirae: How Ownership Moved
Digital X has changed hands twice before Mirae Asset arrived. Nexon’s holding company, NXC, bought 65.19% of Korbit for ₩91.25 billion in September 2017. SK Square bought a 35% stake for about ₩90 billion in November 2021, buying out founder Yoo Young-suk’s remaining 15.59% and subscribing to new shares to become the exchange’s second largest shareholder. NXC held 64.5% at the time.
| Date | Event | Stake |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2017 | NXC (Nexon) acquires Korbit | 65.19%, ₩91.25B |
| Nov 2021 | SK Square invests | 35%, ~₩90B |
| Late 2025 | SK Square transfers stake to SK Planet | 31.5% (post-transfer) |
| Feb 2026 | Mirae Asset Consulting agrees to buy in | 92.06%, ₩133.5B |
| Jul 9, 2026 | Fair Trade Commission clears deal | no change |
| Jul 21–22, 2026 | Mirae Asset raises stake | 97.15%, ~₩141.4B total |
| Aug 11, 2026 | Legal name changes to Digital X Co., Ltd. | no change |
| Aug 12, 2026 | Board approves ₩50B share sale | 10,078,614 new shares |
SK Square moved its entire stake internally to SK Planet late last year. By December 2025, when talk of a Mirae Asset takeover first surfaced, NXC held 60.5% and SK Planet held 31.5%. Mirae Asset Consulting agreed that February to buy 92.06% of the company for ₩133.5 billion. Korea’s Fair Trade Commission cleared the deal on July 9, a decision Korbit itself called the first time a financial group affiliate had acquired a digital asset exchange. Mirae Asset Consulting raised its stake to 97.15% on July 21 and 22, for a total of about ₩141.4 billion. The company’s legal name changed from Korbit Co., Ltd. to Digital X Co., Ltd. on August 11, though the exchange still trades under the Korbit name for customers.
Korea’s Financial Groups Are Making the Same Bet
Digital X is not the only case of a large financial name buying into a Korean exchange this year. Korea Investment & Securities and OKX Ventures each acquired 20% of Coinone. Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card together bought 4% of Dunamu, the parent of Upbit, for a combined ₩612.8 billion.
The ₩50 billion is due into Digital X’s accounts by August 27. What the company does with it, and whether a future disclosure spells out where the money went, will say more about whether this was balance sheet repair or platform funding than anything in Park’s letter or in Digital X’s silence to reporters this week.
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