November 22, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Fintech firm Dunamu on Dec. 21 named former Kakao chief Lee Suk-woo as the new CEO to lead its operations. 

Lee will be officially appointed at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders and board of directors on Dec. 29. 

Dunamu founder and CEO Song Chi-hyung will become chairman of the board to focus on global expansion of its cryptocurrency exchange Upbit and develop new blockchain-based services. 

Lee Suk-woo

“I decided to assume the CEO role after seeing Dunamu’s global growth potential and the vision of cryptocurrency market and blockchain industry,” said Lee. “I will help drive growth for Dunaum to become a leader in the new financial innovation industry.”

Dunamu operates Upbit and mobile stock trading app Kakao Stock. It received 30 billion won (US$27.60 million) in investment from Kakao in 2015. Upbit, which made its debut in October, boasts over 1 million users and 10 trillion won in trading volume daily. 

The 51-year-old holds degrees from Seoul National University and Lewis & Clark Law School. Previously, he worked as a journalist at local daily JoongAng Ilbo, a corporate lawyer at IBM Korea and director at Naver, formerly NHN, before joining Kakao in 2011. From 2014 to 2015, Lee headed Kakao. After leaving the mobile messenger giant, he helmed the digital operations at JoongAng Ilbo until September.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)