Naver, Dunamu Merger Hurdle Cleared by South Korea's Financial Watchdog

The Financial Services Commission in South Korea has approved revisions to the enforcement decree of the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information, clearing a major hurdle for a potential merger between Naver Corp. and Dunamu Inc.

The revision will allow Naver's Fair Trade Act violation to be treated as an exception in Dunamu's major-shareholder eligibility review for a virtual-asset business.

This change reduces uncertainty over whether Naver's past Fair Trade Act violation could affect Dunamu's review, and the revised rules take effect on August 20th.

The revision also strengthens regulation of virtual-asset transfers by expanding the travel rule to all transactions, restricting deals involving overseas exchanges and personal wallets, and implementing a suspicious-transaction monitoring framework for transactions worth 10 million won ($7,200) or more.