According to a regulatory filing on Wednesday, Naver Financial plans to issue 2.54 shares for every one share of Dunamu. The acquisition aims to secure long-term growth by tapping into South Korea’s booming cryptocurrency market, analysts said, while expanding Naver’s footprint beyond its traditional strengths in advertising, commerce, and content.
“Upbit is the largest crypto exchange in South Korea with about 70% market share according to some reports and is hugely profitable,” said Siya Yang, head of marketing at Hong Kong-based digital assets firm HashKey Group. “Naver can see synergy in the business as it can divert its own user traffic toward the exchange, which provides financial products to mostly the younger generation.”
The acquisition could position Naver to play a leading role in the country’s digital asset and stablecoin ecosystem, offering new growth drivers for its fintech operations. However, speculation about a potential Nasdaq listing was dismissed by CEO Choi Soo-yeon, who said on Thursday that the company has no specific plans for such a move and would only consider it if it aligns with enhancing shareholder value.
Following the acquisition news, Naver shares initially jumped more than 7% but were trading down 4.2% as of 05:07 GMT on Thursday. Analysts attributed the decline to a separate incident involving an “abnormal withdrawal” of 54 billion won worth of cryptocurrencies from Upbit earlier in the day. Upbit has apologized for the incident and confirmed that it will fully cover the amount using its own assets.
With this deal, Naver is signaling a major strategic pivot toward digital finance, aiming to leverage its existing user base and technological infrastructure to compete in one of Asia’s fastest-growing markets.