Hanwha Investment and Securities, the brokerage arm of Hanwha Group, said Wednesday it has agreed to buy a 6.15 percent stake in Dunamu, an operator of global cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, for nearly 58.3 billion won ($52.24 million).

The announcement came via DART -- the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board -- that the acquisition of some 2.06 million shares is set to take effect on Feb. 22.

The deal is a mid- to long-term investment for the brokerage house to cope with a fast-growing fintech industry, a Hanwha Investment official said.

“As we are focusing on developing more digital services, we anticipate to achieve meaningful results in fintech related businesses. Since Dunamu already has a high-skilled innovative finance service, we decided to cooperate with the financial technology firm,” the official added.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)