SK Square (CEO Park Jung-ho) will be relisting on the Korea Exchange (KOSPI) on the 29th, and will bet on blockchain and the metaverse, which are considered future-leading ICT industries, as its first investment destinations, taking the lead in the future ICT market.

SK Square announced on the 29th that it will invest approximately 90 billion won in Korbit (CEO Oh Se-jin), Korea's first virtual asset exchange, becoming the second largest shareholder, and further strengthening its competitiveness in the metaverse by acquiring a 40% stake in Onmind (CEO Kim Hyung-il), a subsidiary of Kakao affiliate Neptune and possessing industry-leading 3D digital human production technology.

SK Square will invest approximately 90 billion won in Korbit, acquiring a 35% stake, making it the second-largest shareholder after the largest shareholder, NXC (CEO Lee Jae-kyo).

SK Square anticipates that simply owning a stake in Korbit will increase Square's net asset value. Currently, the volume of domestic virtual asset transactions is rapidly increasing, surpassing the KOSPI. The cumulative domestic virtual asset trading volume from January to September this year was approximately 3,584 trillion won, which is 450 trillion won more than the KOSPI trading volume during the same period.

Korbit is the second virtual asset operator in Korea to have completed its registration with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in accordance with the amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Services Commission's Specific Financial Information Act, and is one of the four major virtual asset exchanges in Korea that allows KRW transactions, along with Upbit.

Korbit launched Korea's first Bitcoin-KRW trading service in 2013. Acquired by NXC in 2017, Korbit is currently an affiliate of Nexon, one of Korea's largest gaming companies. Through this process, Korbit currently provides trading support for 70 highly reliable core virtual assets, based on the rigorous screening criteria of its own listing review committee.

In addition to its virtual asset trading services, Korbit operates a non-fungible token (NFT) trading market and a metaverse virtual asset exchange called "Korbit Town." This business model enables the creation of an innovative metaverse ecosystem by integrating with SK's metaverse platform E-Friend, content platforms Flo and Wave, and app market One Store.

In addition, SK Square decided to invest 8 billion won in Onmind, a 3D digital human production company affiliated with Kakao, and acquire a 40% stake (including common stock and convertible preferred stock).

Onmind is a privately held company established in April 2020 and incorporated as a subsidiary of Neptune, a subsidiary of Kakao Games, in November of the same year.

Based on our self-developed 3D digital human implementation technology and real-time rendering technology, we are expanding partnerships and collaborations with top global graphics companies such as Unity and AMD. Neptune, the parent company, is a leading company diversifying into future-oriented businesses such as e-sports, MCN (Multi Channel Network), metaverse, and digital humans in the gaming industry.

SUA, a 3D digital human created by Onmind, is rapidly emerging as a new metaverse celebrity, having signed an advertising model contract with Unity Korea. Currently, most digital humans are implemented in 2D, so Onmind's 3D method, which goes a step further, is attracting significant attention in the industry.

SK Square also anticipates that Onmind Investment, like Korbit, will have significant business synergy with metaverse platform E-Friend and content platforms Flo and Wave.

SK has maintained a strategic partnership with Kakao since exchanging shares worth 300 billion won in 2019. This year, following several collaborative achievements, including the creation of an ESG joint fund worth a total of KRW 20 billion and the joint development of a super-large AI model (GPT-3), the alliance has expanded to the metaverse sector.

SK Square's investment marks a new starting point for the SK Metaverse ecosystem.

This is a blueprint to further solidify the metaverse ecosystem that encompasses SK's existing E-Friend, Flo Wave, and One Store by integrating Korbit's virtual asset exchange, NFT trading market, and metaverse exchange with Onmind's 3D digital human technology.

Additionally, we are considering creating an economic system within this metaverse ecosystem where users can trade various virtual goods, such as avatars, virtual spaces, music, and videos, and linking with a virtual asset exchange to establish an environment where virtual goods can be converted to cash at any time.

SK Square Chief Investment Officer Yoon Poong-young said, “SK Square will continue to invest in ICT areas that will lead future innovation, such as blockchain and metaverse, to become an attractive investment firm.”