South Korea’s FTC Begins Review of Naver Financial-Dunamu Merger, Aims for Year-End Decision

• South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said it has begun a formal review of a proposed merger between Naver Financial and Dunamu, assessing whether the deal could lead to market dominance.
• The regulator said that if the transaction is completed, Naver Financial will acquire 100% of Dunamu, and existing Dunamu shareholders will receive about 2.54 shares of Naver Financial for each share they hold.
• The FTC said it will assess whether the deal could restrict competition in areas including cryptocurrency exchanges and Korean won-denominated stablecoins, as it weighs conditional approval or rejection and aims to complete the review by year-end.

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South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has begun a formal review of the proposed merger between Naver Financial and Dunamu, assessing whether the deal could create market dominance.

The commission said on Nov. 10 that it had reviewed remedies submitted by the two companies to address competition concerns and had referred an examiner’s report to the full commission. The report sets out the merger’s potential impact on market competition and the measures the examiner believes may be needed. The full commission will use it at a plenary meeting to decide whether to approve the deal.

Naver Financial and Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, filed for merger review in November 2025 through a comprehensive share exchange. If the transaction is completed, Naver Financial will acquire 100% of Dunamu, while existing Dunamu shareholders will receive about 2.54 shares of Naver Financial for each share they hold.

FTC examiners concluded the combination would affect 10 markets, including online simple payments, cryptocurrency exchanges, search, advertising, shopping and financial MyData services. The review also includes a potential market for Korean won-denominated stablecoin issuance, even though the sector has not yet been formalized, given the possibility that both companies could enter the business.

The commission classified the overlap into 12 types of market combinations. Two horizontal overlaps — in listed-stock investment platforms and online secondhand trading — were deemed unlikely to restrict competition. By contrast, examiners identified potential antitrust concerns in six conglomerate combinations linking cryptocurrency exchanges with Naver’s existing platform businesses.

The FTC also found that four combinations tied to a Korean won-denominated stablecoin business could raise competition concerns. If the two companies link self-issued stablecoins to payment and exchange services, that could create unfavorable conditions for other companies seeking to enter or compete in the market. The commission is also examining whether combining search, shopping and payment data with cryptocurrency trading data could give the merged company a competitive advantage.

Naver Financial and Dunamu submitted corrective measures aimed at easing those concerns and reflected additional requests from examiners. The full commission will assess whether those proposals are adequate before deciding on conditional approval. It may adjust the scope of corrective action or block the deal if it concludes the competition issues have not been sufficiently resolved.

The FTC aims to complete its review by year-end. A key issue in the final decision will be whether the companies’ proposed remedies can adequately protect competition not only in existing financial and platform markets, but also in a future Korean won-denominated stablecoin market.

Suehyeon Lee