Mirae Embarks on Push to Build $109 Billion Digital Asset Empire

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Financial Group is reportedly launching a major push into the digital finance sector.

The company is envisioning a 150 trillion won ($109 billion) digital asset business centered around its newly acquired cryptocurrency exchange Digital X, The Korea Times reported Thursday (Aug. 27), citing comments from Mirae Founder and Chairman Park Hyeon-joo during an employee event in Seoul.

According to the report, the company hopes to turn the digital asset business profitable by next year and is considering injecting up to 300 billion won in capital to boost its operations.

“Our initial goal is to make Digital X a core pillar of ‘Mirae Asset 3.0’ and grow the digital asset business to 150 trillion won by leveraging the group’s 1,500 trillion won in client assets,” Park said at the event, titled “A New Voyage Begins, Together.”

The executive added that Digital X, formerly known as Korbit, will spearhead Mirae Asset’s on-chain finance ecosystem with a focus on four key areas: cryptocurrency, stablecoins, real-world assets (RWA) and security token offerings (STO)

This includes tokenizing physical commodities such as gold, silver, and electricity, while also developing customized financial products and making proprietary investments to solidify its market position. The long-term goal, Park said, is to create a unified global platform led by Digital X, combining traditional and digital assets.

A report on the initiative by CoinDesk notes comments Park had made to the news outlet soon after acquiring Digital X in July. He spoke of plans to develop the company into an “intelligent investment platform where knowledge, information and in-depth investment insights are organically connected.”

In other digital asset news, PYMNTS wrote Thursday about a move by 39 state banker associations to create the BankChain Alliance, an industry owned, designed and governed blockchain network that can support smart payments, tokenized deposits, stablecoins and automated settlement.

That report argued the most important verbiage in the group’s announcement was not “blockchain,” but “owned.”

“After all, strip away the blockchain vocabulary and the strategic calculation by these community bankers becomes clearer: America’s smaller and regional banks are confronting an infrastructure problem that gets more difficult as money becomes more programmable,” that report said.

“Large institutions can build. FinTechs can specialize. Networks can aggregate. Smaller banks need another answer. BankChain has proposed one, and it is to pool their scale.”

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