The $9.9 billion stock swap deal between Naver and Dunamu has been delayed again until the end of the year, as South Korea’s digital asset law remains unresolved.

Naver Financial and Dunamu have delayed the completion of their full stock swap transaction to December 31, marking the second postponement of the deal. The transaction, which aims to integrate Dunamu—operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit—into Naver Financial, was originally scheduled to close on September 30. Dunamu unveiled the new timeline on the 6th via a corrected disclosure of documents first submitted last November, with unfinished digital asset legislation and pending antitrust review cited as key variables. The company has pushed its extraordinary general meeting from August 18 to November 19, and reset the shareholder record date to October 22. Multiple government approvals remain required for the deal to proceed, including merger clearance from the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC), approval for Naver Financial’s major shareholder change under credit information regulations, and acceptance of Dunamu’s major shareholder change filing under specific financial transaction information laws. Dunamu noted that progress in any of these steps could further extend the timeline or even lead to the deal’s collapse. It also pointed out that the Digital Asset Basic Act currently under parliamentary review is a practical variable affecting the transaction’s progress and outcome. When the bill is enacted, regulators are simultaneously considering imposing bank-style strict liability rules on exchanges, requiring platforms to compensate users for losses caused by hacking incidents.