■ Reinforcing the metaverse ecosystem as the second largest shareholder of Korbit, one of Korea’s top four virtual asset exchanges

SK Square invested KRW 90 billion (a 35% stake) in Korbit and became the second largest shareholder of the exchange after the largest shareholder NXC(CEO: Lee Jae-kyo).

SK Square expects that this investment deal will increase its net asset value(NAV). In Korea, the transaction volume of virtual assets is rapidly growing to exceed that of KOSPI(Korea Composite Stock Price Index). For example, the accumulated transaction volume of cryptocurrencies in Korea was around KRW 3,584 trillion from January to September 2021, which is KRW 450 trillion higher than that of KOSPI during the same period.

Korbit is the second virtual asset service provider to complete its registration with the Financial Intelligence Unit of Korean Financial Services Commission, under the amended Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information in Korea. It is also one of Korea’s top four virtual asset exchanges including Upbit that allow users to trade in Korean Won.

Korbit was founded in 2013 as the first Bitcoin-Korean Won exchange and became a part of NXC, an affiliate of Korea’s largest game company Nexon, in 2017. Korbit allows only the virtual assets that are reviewed and considered reliable by its internal listing review committee to be offered for trading at its virtual asset exchange.

SK Square’s investment in Korbit comes as an effort to lead the growth of ‘ICT Next Platform’ industry, an industry category defined by SK Group that is expected to bring innovation to the society. SK Square expects that virtual asset services will evolve into a critical ICT platform industry, as they are now being governed by legal frameworks.

SK Square and Korbit plan to upgrade the virtual asset service and provide a safer investment platform where investors can trade virtual assets based on an accurate and reliable information. They also aim to promote stable growth of virtual asset transaction market and the related industries. 

The two companies also pursue collaboration to improve the existing metaverse ecosystem.

For example, they plan to connect SK’s metaverse platform Ifland, content platform Flo/Wavve, and app market One Store with Korbit’s NFT(non-fungible token) transaction market and virtual currency platform Korbit Town. This will allow Ifland users to trade virtual goods conveniently on the metaverse platform. Users can also buy and keep virtual properties made from IP(intellectual property)-protected content of Wavve, Flo, and One Store, in Korbit’s NFT transaction market. 

Meanwhile, SK Square’s investment provides Korbit an opportunity to expand its virtual asset services. Korbit plans to adopt SK’s phone number-based single login and DID(decentralized identifiers) simple authentication services to deliver a safe and convenient investment experience for users. Korbit also expects to use SK’s marketing channels including T Membership and T Universe to promote its virtual asset services.

■ Acquiring a 40% stake of the 3D digital human maker Onmind to empower the metaverse ecosystem

SK Square invested KRW 8 billion in the Kakao-affiliated 3D digital human maker Onmind to acquire a 40% stake of the company.

As an unlisted company, Onmind was created in April 2020 and was incorporated as a subsidiary of Neptune under Kakao Games in November of the same year. Onmind is expanding its partnership and collaboration with global graphic companies including Unity and AMD, based on its in-house developed technologies such as 3D digital human production and real-time rendering. Its parent company and game service provider Neptune is currently focusing on future-oriented businesses such as e-sport, MCN(multi-channel network), metaverse, and digital human production.

Onmind’s 3D digital technology has drawn attention from the industry with the launch of its 3D digital human ‘SUA’. Recently, Onmind signed a contract with Unity Korea to debut SUA as an advertising model.

SK Square expects that its investment in Onmind will generate synergy with SK’s metaverse platform Ifland and content platform Flo & Wavve.

For example, Onmind’s digital human technology makes it possible to create a realistic avartar or an attractive virtual influencer the Ifland platform.

Onmind’s digital human technology can be also combined with music sources of Flo and the OTT platform Wavve to create an income in the entertainment business. For instance, Flo and Wavve can develop digital human celebrities or popular virtual artists with Onmind’s technology. 

In 2019, SK and Kakao agreed on a stock swap transaction of KRW 300 billion and have continued their strategic partnership. Under the partnership, the two companies created a joint ESG fund worth KRW 20 billion, developed a hyperscale AI model(GPT-3), and now are collaborating on metaverse domain.

■ SK Square’s investment to renew SK’s metaverse ecosystem

SK’s metaverse ecosystem consists of Ifland, Flo, Wavve, and One Store. With SK Square’s investment in Korbit and Onmind, this metaverse ecosystem can be connected with the virtual asset exchange, NFT market, and metaverse exchange of Korbit along with the 3D digital human technology of Onmind. This allows users to trade and monetize their virtual goods such as avatars, virtual space, music sources and video on the metaverse platform. 

“SK Square aims to become an investment company specialized in innovative technologies such as blockchain and metaverse that will lead the future ICT industry,” said Poong Young Yoon, CIO(Chief Investment Officer) of SK Square.