Gearing Up for Blockchain Business
Affiliates of Korea's top four business groups are moving to enter virtual currency and blockchain businesses in earnest. In the past, they were only at the level of investing in related companies, but now they are directly brokering virtual asset transactions or promoting blockchain technology development.
LG Electronics approved changes to its articles of incorporation at a regular general meeting of shareholders on March 24 to add development and sales of blockchain-based software and sales and brokerage of cryptographic assets to its business purposes.
The company set up iLab under its chief technology officer (CTO) during its reorganization at the end of 2020 to step up efforts to develop blockchain and non-fungible token (NFT)-related technologies.
SK Group is moving to issue a virtual currency. On March 23, SK Planet signed a business agreement with Korbit, a virtual asset exchange, to discover new blockchain services. SK Square, an investment arm of SK Group, has emerged as the second-largest shareholder of Korbit by purchasing a 35 percent stake for 87.3 billion won in 2021. SK Group is considering introducing a virtual economy system based on blockchain technology to its affiliates’ services.
Samsung Electronics participated in the series B-1 financing of global virtual currency exchange FTX in 2021 and invested in Sky Marvis, the developer of the NFT game “Axie Infinity,” through Samsung Next, an in-house global startup investment unit. In early 2022, it showcased the world’s first smart TV equipped with an NFT trading platform at CES 2022.