South Korean brokerage firms and overseas crypto platforms are accelerating their entry into the same equity transaction. Korea Investment & Securities and OKX plan to sign an agreement on May 29 to jointly acquire a 40% stake in South Korean crypto exchange Coinone.

The deal is valued at approximately 500 billion to 600 billion Korean won.

Reports indicate that Korea Investment & Securities and OKX will each acquire a 20% stake, for a combined 40% ownership. The transaction is valued at approximately 500 billion to 600 billion won, or about 332 million to 398 million US dollars.

The transaction is expected to be completed primarily through the issuance of new shares. This means that Coinone will introduce new shareholders through a share issuance, rather than relying entirely on existing shareholders transferring their shares.

The existing major shareholder retains control.

Although the new investor will acquire a significant stake, the existing major shareholders will retain operational control. Information disclosed at this stage suggests that this transaction is more of a strategic investment than a change of control.

Structurally, this arrangement helps Coinone maintain its existing management framework while introducing new business resources and institutional client channels.

South Korean investment securities target tokenized securities

Korea Investment & Securities stated that the investment will support the company in expanding into several new businesses, including the issuance and trading of tokenized securities, digital asset brokerage services, and products and services for institutional clients.

This also reflects the growing interest of traditional South Korean financial institutions in the crypto industry. As tokenized securities and institutional-grade digital asset businesses gain momentum, cooperation between brokerages and crypto platforms is shifting from business integration to equity-level partnerships.