Korea’s Institutional Crypto Race: Banks, Exchanges, and Infrastructure Builders Compete for Control

Table of Contents Korea’s institutional crypto market is moving beyond paper agreements into concrete business operations. Major financial institutions are acquiring exchange equity stakes, building custody infrastructure, and forming stablecoin coalitions. According to Tiger Research, the landscape now covers 150 institutions and 196 partnerships. The shift signals a structural change in how Korea’s financial sector views digital assets — no longer speculative, but as core financial infrastructure worth competing over before regulations are finalized. Within ten days of Hana Bank announcing a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, operator of Upbit, for roughly USD 720 million, other institutions followed. Hanwha Investment Securities approved an additional 3.90% acquisition. Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card jointly announced a combined 4.0% stake. Mirae Asset Consulting had already signed a contract in February to acquire 92.06% of Korbit, and reports emerged that Korea Investment Securities and global exchange OKX are in discussions over a joint acquisition of Coinone. Banks and securities firms gain a pathway to indirectly obtain licenses such as VASP registration while simultaneously securing an exchange’s user base and liquidity. The current equity scramble is essentially a contest over who will control the front-end of digital asset finance. The custody market is the most operationally active of the three key sectors. KODA, KDAC, BDACS, and BitGo Korea have each established domestic and international partnerships. However, all major custodians are reported to have posted net losses last year, suggesting they have built ahead of the institutional capital flows needed to sustain operations. The STO market is split between two major camps. KOSCOM is pursuing a neutral infrastructure model, integrating 11 securities firms onto its platform and aiming to set issuance and distribution technology standards. Shinhan Investment Securities has built its own end-to-end pipeline from issuance to distribution within its own ecosystem. The stablecoin market features a more diverse set of participants, with card companies, exchanges, fintechs, and infrastructure firms each entering through different routes. The Bank of Korea’s proposed 51% rule — requiring bank-majority consortiums for stablecoin issuance — is creating friction with fintech firms and slowing regulatory finalization. Dependence on overseas solutions carries a structural cost: as the market grows, a significant share of revenues will flow abroad in the form of technology licensing fees. Domestic infrastructure also becomes exposed to the risk of disruption should overseas partners change their policies or raise costs. Three firms are building Korea-specific financial rails. LG CNS, as lead contractor for the Bank of Korea’s CBDC project ‘Hangang’, is developing a government subsidy disbursement system using deposit tokens, building the capability to run institutional CBDC and private digital currency on a single network. DSRV, a validator and infrastructure company across 70+ blockchain networks, offers financial institutions full-stack onchain access through its Portal product. Altus builds from scratch to financial industry requirements, covering on/off-chain orchestration, RWA tokenization, permissioned exchanges, stablecoin payment and settlement, and institutional wallet and custody infrastructure. Korea’s crypto market has restructured significantly in just six months. Custody camps have formed, STO consortiums have taken shape, and major financial holding companies have moved to acquire exchange equity. Meanwhile, combined trading volume across Korea’s five major exchanges fell approximately 48% year-on-year, with the market’s center of gravity shifting rapidly from retail to institutional.