Kakao Piccoma acquires Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange SEBC

Kakao Corp., South Korea’s top mobile messenger app operator, has acquired a controlling stake in Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC), a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, as part of its global expansion efforts.

Kakao Piccoma, the Korean tech company’s Japanese subsidiary, on April 1 bought more than a 50% stake in SEBC, held by SEBC Holdings, to become its largest shareholder.

The companies didn’t disclose the exact size of the stake nor the value of the deal.

Founded in May 2017, SEBC is based in Osaka and currently handles trading of 11 types of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Litecoin.

The purchase of the Japanese crypto exchange is Kakao’s first M&A move since group founder Kim Beom-su, also known by his English name Brian Kim, last month stepped down from his chairman’s post and vowed to concentrate on expanding Kakao’s global business under its “Beyond Korea” strategy.

In Mid-March, Kim resigned from Kakao’s board of directors, following a series of scandals that rocked the company last year.

He said at the time that the starting point for Beyond Korea will be Japan, where Piccoma has grown to become the country’s largest digital comics platform, offering a variety of Japanese manga and webtoons.

Piccoma is the only Kakao affiliate in which Kim is serving an executive role.

More recently, Kakao Piccoma launched the European version of its webtoon subscription service. Japanese comics account for about 30% of total comic book sales in France, where Kakao established Piccoma’s Europe office in September 2021 and has been setting up shop there since then.

BLOCKCHAIN ECOSYSTEM

“The latest deal is a new business move by Kakao Piccoma to challenge areas other than webtoons,” said an industry official.

With the acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, Kakao will be able to create a blockchain ecosystem in the group, which already owns units that offer digital coin and non-fungible token (NFT) services.

Kakao entered into the blockchain business by launching its blockchain unit Ground X in 2018. The next year, it unveiled Klaytn, a cryptocurrency and blockchain development platform.

In October of last year, Kakao established Krust in Singapore, which took over the Klaytn project from Ground X to expand its blockchain business globally.

Kakao Group’s other affiliates, including Kakao Games Corp., are also aggressively strengthening their blockchain businesses.

In February, Friends Games, a unit of Kakao Games, changed its name to Meta Bora and vowed to widen the network of companies supporting its namesake cryptocurrency Bora.

Kakao Games, separately, is preparing to launch its own NFT exchange.

Industry watchers said that with the acquisition of SEBC, Kakao Piccoma aims to expand its business scope to so-called Web 3.0, an idea of a decentralized internet that provides more personalized service based on blockchain and digital tokens. Fused with the metaverse, individuals can connect to a virtual world and carry out everyday activities as they do in real life.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.