South Korea's Hana Bank agrees to acquire a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, which runs South Korea's largest crypto exchange Upbit, for $672.5M from Kakao

Hana Bank just made a massive crypto-adjacent bet. The South Korean banking giant is acquiring a 6.55% stake in Dunamu — the operator of Upbit, South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange — for roughly $672.5 million.

The seller? Kakao, the tech conglomerate offloading part of its Dunamu holdings. The deal will make Hana Bank the fourth largest shareholder in the crypto exchange operator.

It's a significant move that plants a traditional banking institution firmly inside the crypto ecosystem. At that price tag, the deal values Dunamu at over $10 billion — a hefty number that underscores just how dominant Upbit remains in South Korea's digital asset trading landscape.

For Hana Bank, this isn't just a financial investment. It's a strategic positioning play as traditional finance and crypto continue their slow, inevitable convergence.