---
title: "A Korean Brokerage Eyes a Stake in Bithumb as Seoul's Financiers Pile Into Crypto"
description: "Kiwoom Securities, one of South Korea's biggest retail brokerages, is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Bithumb, a leading Korean crypto exchange. It's the latest sign that the country's traditional financial firms are racing into digital assets ahead of a regulatory opening."
category: "Crypto"
category_url: https://boursel.com/category/crypto
author: "Marcus Feldman"
published: 2026-06-29T09:43:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-29T09:43:00.000Z
canonical: https://boursel.com/article/a-korean-brokerage-eyes-a-stake-in-bithumb-as-wall-street-s-seoul-cousins-pile-i
tags: ["crypto", "south-korea", "bithumb", "kiwoom", "exchanges"]
---
# A Korean Brokerage Eyes a Stake in Bithumb as Seoul's Financiers Pile Into Crypto

Kiwoom Securities, one of South Korea's biggest retail brokerages, is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Bithumb, a leading Korean crypto exchange. It's the latest sign that the country's traditional financial firms are racing into digital assets ahead of a regulatory opening.

South Korea's traditional finance industry is no longer watching crypto from the sidelines. **Kiwoom Securities**, a major South Korean retail brokerage, is **reportedly in talks** to acquire a stake in **Bithumb**, one of the country's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, [Cointelegraph reported](https://cointelegraph.com/news/kiwoom-stake-bithumb-exchange). The discussions reportedly involve a **third-party share allotment** — Bithumb issuing new shares for Kiwoom to buy — though the **size and terms have not been disclosed**, and neither company has publicly confirmed a deal.

## The terms, with a caveat

Treat the specifics as a report, not a done deal. What's described is exploratory, and South Korean rules generally **cap a single shareholder in a crypto firm at around 20%** (with more allowed only in special cases), [per The Block](https://www.theblock.co/post/406470/kiwoom-securities-bithumb) — so any Kiwoom holding would likely be a minority stake. Bithumb has also had a bumpy stretch financially, and is widely reported to be **preparing for an eventual IPO**, now expected after 2028.

## Why Korea's financiers are rushing in

The move fits a clear pattern: **established Korean financial institutions are scrambling for a foothold in crypto** ahead of a major regulatory shift. South Korea is preparing a **Digital Asset Basic Act** and a framework for **tokenized securities**, due to take effect in 2027 — the kind of legal clarity that lets banks and brokerages get involved where they once held back.

The evidence is piling up. Last month, **Hana Bank** disclosed a roughly **$670 million stake in Dunamu**, the operator of rival exchange **Upbit**, and **Korea Investment & Securities** has been building ties with Bithumb and weighing other exchange investments. For firms like Kiwoom, crypto trading is a **revenue stream** — fees and commissions — in a country where retail enthusiasm for digital assets is enormous.

## Who the players are

**Kiwoom** is a retail-brokerage heavyweight in Seoul, long dominant in everyday stock trading. **Bithumb** is among Korea's biggest crypto exchanges by volume, though it has faced a rough patch — its revenue and profitability have come under pressure, and it has dealt with regulatory and operational scrutiny. A capital injection and the imprimatur of an established broker could help steady the business and smooth its path toward a public listing.

## The bigger picture

This is the **convergence of traditional finance and crypto**, playing out fast in one of the world's most crypto-active markets. Boursel has tracked the same current elsewhere — crypto venture funds broadening into mainstream tech, banks courting stablecoins, and now brokerages buying into exchanges. South Korea, with its high smartphone use, young investor base and appetite for risk, is a natural proving ground: when the rules clear, the incumbents move.

For investors, the signal is less about any single stake than about **direction**. The firms that once treated crypto as a fringe risk increasingly see it as infrastructure worth owning — and the line between a "brokerage" and a "crypto company" keeps getting blurrier. Whether the Kiwoom-Bithumb talks produce a deal or not, the trend they illustrate is real, and accelerating.

## Sources

- [Kiwoom Securities reportedly in talks for a Bithumb stake](https://cointelegraph.com/news/kiwoom-stake-bithumb-exchange)
- [South Korea's Kiwoom Securities to acquire stake in Bithumb: report](https://www.theblock.co/post/406470/kiwoom-securities-bithumb)