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The South Korean internet giant is reportedly in talks to acquire the parent company of the country\u2019s top crypto exchange.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s largest internet search company, Naver, is in advanced talks to acquire Dunamu Inc., the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit<\/a>, through a stock-swap deal that would place Dunamu under Naver\u2019s finance arm, according to local reports.<\/p>\n Under the proposed share-exchange plan, Naver Financial would issue shares to Dunamu shareholders rather than pay cash, though the timeline of the deal remains undisclosed. The structure would make Dunamu a wholly owned subsidiary of Naver Financial.<\/p>\n As of press time, Naver and Dunamu haven\u2019t filed definitive public confirmations of final terms, Donga reports<\/a>. Dunamu and Naver did not immediately respond to The Defiant\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n Naver is South Korea\u2019s largest internet platform, with over 30 million users<\/a> of its mobile payment service Naver Pay and annual revenue<\/a> exceeding 11 trillion won ($8 billion).<\/p>\n For the tech giant, the acquisition would be another step toward building a Korean stablecoin<\/a> empire, as in July, Korean media reported<\/a> that Naver and Upbit were working together on a stablecoin product, with Naver Pay leading the effort.<\/p>\n Upbit remains the dominant player in the domestic cryptocurrency market. In its Q3 ranking<\/a> of crypto exchanges, blockchain analytics firm Kaiko ranked Upbit as the world\u2019s eighth-largest crypto platform, behind only international players such as Binance and Crypto.com.<\/p>\nStablecoin Ambitions<\/h2>\n