The First among Affiliates of Top 10 Business Groups
SK Square, an investment business arm of SK Group, is planning to issue its own cryptocurrency.
The company announced on March 23 that it is preparing an innovative blockchain service with its partners and will transparently communicate with the market when its plan to issue a cryptocurrency takes a more concrete shape.
SK Square launched a blockchain task force (TF) in charge of the cryptocurrency business at the beginning of 2022. Earlier, the company invested 87.3 billion won in Korbit, one of Korea's top four cryptocurrency exchanges. Korbit was the company's first investment target after its split-off from SK Telecom at the end of 2021.
In addition, SK Planet, a subsidiary of SK Square, signed a business agreement with Korbit on March 23, to explore new blockchain projects.
SK Square’s plan to issue a cryptocurrency is attracting attention as the company is the first among affiliates of Korea's top 10 Korean business groups to announce such an initiative. If it issues a cryptocurrency, it will enhance stability of cryptocurrencies as a whole in light of the high market value and credibility of SK Group.
In addition, if the cryptocurrency is used widely for projects promoted by the group's other ICT affiliates, its value will be enhanced.
“Unlike existing cryptocurrencies that have limited uses, the cryptocurrency to be issued by SK Group will be used widely for SK Telecom’s metaverse platform Ifland, SK Planet’s point and membership-based platform, e-commerce of 11ST, OTT service Wavve and T Map Mobility,” said industry observer.