Hana Bank purchased 2.28 million Dunamu shares from Kakao Investment, an investment subsidiary of Korean internet giant Kakao Corp. The sale reduces Kakao's holding but leaves it as the third-largest shareholder with approximately 10.9% remaining.

Ahead of Hana in the cap table sit Dunamu Chairman and co-founder Song Chi-hyung (roughly 25.7%), co-founder Kim Hyung-yeon (roughly 13.2%), Kakao Corp (roughly 10.9%), and venture firm Woori Technology Investment (roughly 7.4%). Based on the deal price, Dunamu's implied valuation sits near $10.2 billion. That figure reflects a single secondary block trade; all-stock merger transactions, such as the separate Naver Financial acquisition discussed below, typically incorporate different valuation assumptions and produce a wider implied range.

Dunamu's financials help explain the interest. The company posted net profit of 709 billion KRW (approximately $490 million USD) and revenue of 1.56 trillion KRW in 2025, with total assets reaching 13.17 trillion KRW by year end. Upbit, its flagship exchange, held roughly 71.6% of South Korea's crypto trading volume as of April 2026, with daily volumes around $1.12 billion. Together, Upbit and rival Bithumb control approximately 96.6% of the domestic market, a concentration that led South Korea's Financial Services Commission to classify exchanges with more than 11 million users as critical public infrastructure.

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo described the acquisition as "a strategic decision to accelerate financial innovation based on digital assets." The bank is not a newcomer to Dunamu's orbit: Hana Bank already serves as Upbit's mandatory banking partner, providing the real-name account verification service required under South Korea's anti-money laundering framework for crypto exchanges. The equity stake formalizes a commercial relationship that has been operating since at least 2024.

The practical ambitions behind the deal go beyond shareholding. Hana Bank, POSCO International, and Dunamu announced a joint blockchain remittance project earlier this year, building on Dunamu's GIWA Chain platform. GIWA stands for Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access. GIWA Chain, launched in September 2025, is a Layer-2 blockchain using Optimistic Rollup technology. The consortium's stated target is reducing cross-border remittance fees from the current global average of above 6% to below 1%. POSCO International alone handles roughly 40,000 overseas remittances annually, giving the pilot project a concrete starting volume. The global remittance market exceeds $800 billion per year, according to World Bank figures.

For South Asian communities in Korea, the implications are direct. South Korea hosts an estimated 700,000 or more migrant workers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, many of whom send money home through expensive SWIFT transfers or informal channels. A sub-1% fee model on Korea-to-South Asia corridors would represent a significant cost reduction per transfer. Hana Bank already operates a platform called Hana EZ, aimed at foreign residents making outbound transfers. The bank has not confirmed whether any GIWA Chain remittance product would eventually be offered through that platform.

Speaking at the Upbit Developer Conference (UDC) 2025 in the context of Dunamu's broader Web3 and blockchain strategy, CEO Oh Kyoung-suk framed the company's ambitions in geopolitical terms: "While Korea previously responded defensively to the rise of global Big Tech in the internet and AI revolutions, the blockchain revolution allows us to take an offensive stance."

The timing of the acquisition also carries corporate significance. A shareholder vote on Naver Financial's all-stock acquisition of Dunamu, in a deal valued at roughly $10.3 billion to $14.5 billion, is scheduled for May 22, just one week away. Hana's entry into the cap table ahead of that vote positions the bank inside Dunamu's ownership structure before what would be a fundamental reorganization of the company. If the Naver deal closes as expected by June 30, 2026, Dunamu would sit within a Naver Financial-led structure targeting an IPO by approximately 2031, with a possible two-year extension that could push that window to 2033. Hana's 6.55% stake could be subject to dilution or restructuring once that transaction settles, and the exact post-merger cap table remains pending regulatory approval.

A separate regulatory pressure may have motivated Kakao's decision to sell. South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act will cap major crypto exchange shareholder stakes at 20%, with a three-year grace period for exchanges like Upbit to comply, though the Financial Services Commission retains discretion to permit holdings up to 34% in specific circumstances. Chairman Song Chi-hyung's current holding of roughly 25.7% already exceeds the base threshold, and the law creates an environment where existing shareholders face clear incentives to pare positions before enforcement begins. Kakao's partial exit fits that pattern, though in available reporting the company has not publicly attributed the sale to regulatory considerations.

GIWA Chain's on-chain metrics, including total value locked and active addresses, are not yet broadly reported on platforms such as DefiLlama or Dune Analytics as of mid-May 2026, reflecting the network's early stage.

How quickly Hana's institutional weight translates into developer adoption and transaction volume on that infrastructure will be a key indicator to watch as the Naver merger and Korea's new crypto ownership rules both take effect in the months ahead.