One of South Korea's largest brokerage firms, Korea Investment & Securities, plans to acquire shares of Coinone.

Deep Tide TechFlow message, April 03, according to Korea’s Herald Economy, Korea Investment & Securities, a top-tier Korean brokerage, is conducting a preliminary review of an acquisition of shares in Coinone, South Korea’s third-largest crypto exchange. It is currently moving forward with efforts to persuade the financial regulatory authorities and the National Assembly’s Government Affairs Committee; the steps are consistent with the path previously taken by Mirae Asset Group in its acquisition of Korbit. Coinone’s current CEO, Cha Myung-hoon, holds 53.44% of the shares, but upcoming regulatory new rules may set the shareholding limit for major shareholders at 15%-20%, creating an entry window for external buyers.

Although Coinone has raised its market share to double digits, it has recorded operating losses for three consecutive years. Previously, other domestic firms had expressed acquisition intentions, but no agreement was reached due to significant differences in valuation. Industry insiders note that if Korea Investment & Securities were to obtain around 20% of the shares, it would not affect Cha Myung-hoon’s management control. The specific price has not been determined yet, and the process is still at an early stage.

Coinone said that it has recently received multiple cooperation proposals, but it has not yet determined the specific cooperation model, method, or counterpart. The market expects that the transaction size of Mirae Asset Group’s prior acquisition of Korbit for roughly KRW 133 billion will become a reference pricing benchmark.