Dunamu, the parent company of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has entered into a strategic partnership with global payments company Visa to develop next generation stablecoin based payments and AI driven financial services.

 

The partnership, which was signed at Visa’s Global Market Support Center in San Francisco, USA, this Thursday in the presence of key figures from both companies, including Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung seok and Visa Global President Oliver Jenkyn, will leverage the existing infrastructure of both companies to create new stablecoin based payment and global remittance services.

 

According to Dunamu, the partnership will aim to ensure the secure and reliable use of digital assets and next generation payment technologies based on stability, transparency, interoperability, and regulatory compliance.

 

“The spread of AI, stablecoins, and tokenization is a key trend that will transform how finance and commerce operate,” said Oh Kyung seok, CEO of Dunamu. “Through collaboration with Visa, which has led global payments, we will connect digital assets with traditional finance and create a new global financial experience that users can truly experience.”

 

As part of the two companies’ initial exploration of stablecoins, the Open USD (OUSD) stablecoin will be further explored, including the potential expansion of its use cases across areas such as global remittances, payments, and settlements.

 

Over time, the partnership could expand to include the utilization and integration of AI for payments and other stablecoin based payment and settlement services, Dunamu said. It could also explore the use of AI in agentic commerce and the handling of certain user tasks, such as purchases and payments. 

 

Global cryptocurrency exchange OKX and Korea Investment & Securities are reportedly looking to acquire approximately 20% stakes each in Coinone, a cryptocurrency exchange based in South Korea.

 

To maximize capital flow, the acquisition will involve Coinone issuing new equity shares to OKX and its acquisition partner, rather than selling shares held by existing shareholders. Although the acquisition is, for now, just a financial investment, some industry observers have opined that OKX may become more involved in the exchange’s managerial activities in the future.

 

Currently, The One Group, a private investment company managed by Cha Myung hoon, Coinone’s founder, owns about 34.30% of Coinone, followed by Com2uS Holdings, a South Korean gaming firm, which owns 21.95%, and Com2uS Plus, one of its entities, which owns 16.47 percent. Coinone's CEO, Cha Myung-hoon, owns 19.14%.

 

If successful, this will be the third time a global cryptocurrency exchange has acquired a stake in a South Korean exchange. In 2022, crypto exchange Crypto.com fully acquired OK BIT, a small South Korean crypto exchange, while in 2025, Binance acquired a 67% majority stake in Gopax, one of South Korea’s top five crypto exchanges.

 

Crypto Acquisitions on the Rise

The partial acquisition of Coinone by OKX comes at the same time as Hana Bank, one of South Korea’s largest commercial banks, announced a 6.55% stake acquisition in Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea.

 

Kraken, through its parent company Payward, has also agreed to acquire Reap, a payments infrastructure firm based in Hong Kong, for about $600 million, just a few weeks after it acquired Bitnomial for $550 million in April.

 

Several other crypto entities have also been involved in acquisitions, including the crypto exchange Bullish, which acquired Equiniti for $4.2 billion, and MoonPay, which recently acquired Dawn Labs.

 

According to a report from Architect Partners, about 89 crypto acquisition deals were completed in the previous quarter, with approximately $3.2 billion spent on crypto-related acquisitions, a significant increase from the first quarter of 2025, which recorded 61 deals and $2.2 billion in deal value.