As a venture capital firm, SK Square made an equity investment in Korbit Exchange, South Korea’s fourth-largest trading platform.
SK Square, the venture capital arm of the South Korean holding and IT services company, SK Inc (KRX: 034730) has doubled down on its love for the growing world of blockchain technology with a new mandate to prompt its portfolio companies to have a metaverse presence.
According to a Bloomberg report, featuring an interview with SK Square’s Managing Director Huh Seok-joon, the move is now being prioritized by the company in a bid to catch in on the frenzy that has seen global companies including Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: FB), and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) join the train.
According to Huh, the SK Square plans for their customers are robust and it involves creating an avenue where customers would be able to use cryptocurrencies for shopping, streaming media, and conducting other transactions within the metaverse community.
“Our business needs to evolve into the metaverse,” Huh said. “Our new interface between customers will be shifting from mobile phones to metaverse and coins will be used as new currencies on our platforms.”
SK Square is known to cater to innovations in the traditional tech ecosystem and has high stakes in companies like chip giant SK Hynix Inc. and its other portfolio companies include app market firm One Store Co., online shopping mall 11street, and ride-services provider Tmap Mobility. Amongst the ambitions of the company is to create a digital coin for the SK Telecom-operated metaverse platform called “ifland,” according to Huh.
SK Square Has Venture Capital Funding in Korbit
The plan to go all out on the cryptocurrency industry is not a plan that was conceived overnight. As a venture capital firm, SK Square made an equity investment in Korbit Exchange, South Korea’s fourth-largest trading platform.
At a time where digital currency trading platforms are facing very tight scrutiny from Korean regulators, SK Square saw potential in Korbit, one of the few exchanges that remained operational after a recent crackdown. While Korbit controls just about 0.3% of the cryptocurrency trading market in South Korea per the Bloomberg report, the $76 million investment the firm made has been tagged as a viable avenue to plug into the growing crypto industry.
As Huh said, the Korbit move is the first of many attempts that will see the company push its investment drives to foreign digital currency trading platforms. While establishing an international coin ecosystem remains one of the plans for this venture, the firm is also notably open to investing in digital currencies.
“I don’t think cryptocurrency itself is a speculative asset,” he said. “We are aware of the volatility of the price move and need to be careful. But it doesn’t make sense for us to rule out crypto as an investment option.”
Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalists who relish writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desires to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain based media and sites. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture.
