Naver & Upbit Set to Invest $7B in AI Plus Blockchain

📢Sponsor | 💡Telegram | 📰Past Editions

Good Morning.

Naver is taking over Dunamu, the team behind Upbit, and together they’re planning a $7B push into next-gen financial infrastructure. Their goal is simple: blend AI with blockchain to build new payment and settlement rails, starting with a KRW-backed stablecoin and a broader move toward onchain finance.

Check out our latest episode with Asgard!

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Naver & Upbit Set to Invest $7B in AI Plus Blockchain 👀 

• Founders Highlight: Yat Siu of Animoca Brands 👨 

• Deal Flows: Infinex Launches Sonar Sale at $300M FDV 💰️ 

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at [email protected].

WHAT MATTERS

Naver & Upbit Set to Invest $7B in AI Plus Blockchain

State of play: Naver has confirmed its share-swap acquisition of Dunamu (Upbit operator). Local reports say the combined group plans to invest 10T won (~$6.8B), into next-gen financial infra over the next 5 years, bringing AI and blockchain together.

• They aim to build a new global financial framework that goes beyond payments and moves deeper into financial services.

• They noted the timing aligns with rapid blockchain adoption and the rise of agentic AI.

• The companies also plan to develop a Korean won-pegged stablecoin, joining a wider race among Korean tech giants to build local currency stablecoins.

Why it matters: This marks one of South Korea’s largest tech and crypto mergers, combining Naver’s AI and commerce capabilities with Dunamu’s digital asset trading and blockchain stack.

Our take: This merger gives Korea a serious AI plus blockchain powerhouse. Naver brings the tech and user base, Dunamu brings the crypto rails, and the $6.8B budget shows they are building for something big.

For builders and investors: More capital, clearer demand and a friendlier environment for new products. Expect fresh opportunities in AI-driven finance, onchain payments and KRW-stablecoin use cases.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Yat Siu of Animoca Brands

Intro: Yat Siu is the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, a global leader in blockchain and gaming with the goal to provide property rights for virtual assets.

Previous background: Yat began his career at Atari Germany before founding Hong Kong Cybercity, Asia’s first free web page and email service. He later launched Outblaze, an early leader in multilingual white-label web services.

The big idea: Yat Sui through Animoca aims to deliver digital property rights to internet users through Web3 technologies, thereby building an open metaverse and creating a more equitable digital framework.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

INSIGHTS

Arbitraging Mispriced Polymarket Parlays

Credits to @0xtaetaehoho for the original article & chart

Polymarket parlays bundle several events into one bet, and since each event also has its own market, you can compare what the parlay costs versus the combined probability implied by the individual legs.

• In normal conditions, the parlay should trade above that simple product.

• Many events are correlated, and some standalone markets resolve later than the parlay, which makes their “nothing happens” probabilities cheaper.

• That means the independent compound probability tends to understate the true chance of the parlay.

An arbitrage appears when the parlay falls below that adjusted probability.

• In the “Nothing Ever Happens: November” example, the parlay dipped to 0.005 while the hedge basket cost about 0.00446.

• Buying the parlay and hedging the legs created guaranteed profit across all outcomes.

• The main limitation is liquidity. These mispricings happen, but it can be hard to size the trade.

DEAL FLOWS

Infinex Launches Sonar Sale at $300M FDV

Deal flows slowed down this week - we saw $50M+ in deals 💼 

Infinex is following last year’s $67.7M Patron NFT funding round with a new Sonar sale that will distribute 5% of the INX supply at a $300M FDV. The Sonar sale aims to raise $15M and gives Patron holders priority allocations based on how many NFTs they own.

• Newcomers can enter through a lottery capped at $5K.

• Tokens from the sale carry a one-year lock, with an option to buy early unlocks at a premium.

• The goal is to broaden token ownership beyond the early Patron backers who supported the massive multi-chain NFT fundraiser.

Deal flows in the past week:

• Nad.fun, $1.1M Seed Round

• SpaceComputer, $10M Seed Round

• Pruv Finance, $3M Series A

• Nexton, $4M Strategic Round

• RateX, $7M Strategic Round

• CreatorFi, $2M Unknown Round

• Figure, $25M Unknown Round

• Alchemy, Unknown $ Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

• Kalshi doubles valuation in weeks.

• BitMine buys $44M worth of Ethereum.

• Ethereum raises block gas limit to 60M.

• Naver & Upbit to pour $7B into AI, blockchain.

• Lazarus Group suspected in $30M Upbit hack.

• MegaETH to return all funds from pre-deposit bridge.

• DWF Labs launches 'proprietary' $75M DeFi investment fund.

• Australia moves to fold crypto platforms into financial licensing regime.

• Securitize wins approval to operate tokenized trading and settlement system.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• Alex Miles’s read on No More Airdrops.

• Nic Carter’s read on How Crypto Could Trigger the Next Financial Crisis.

• Blockmates’s read on Will ICOs Replace Airdrops in 2026?

If you enjoy reading this issue, please consider subscribing. It takes 1 minute of your time, but it would mean the world to us 🙇

Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.