[Courtesy of Korbit]
SEOUL -- Korbit is South Korea's first cryptocurrency exchange platform that operates a metaverse virtual asset exchange platform called "Korbit Town" and a trading market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger and can be bought and sold digitally.
Korbit Town is the first metaverse service in South Korea's virtual asset exchange industry. In an effort to attract cryptocurrency traders, operators have adopted a "play to earn (P2E)" system that allows players to gain rewards for playing games and easily access virtual assets. Korbit aims to establish a metaverse ecosystem by allowing users to display NFTs and engage YouTube streamers in Korbit Town.
Choi Sung-wook, a Korbit manager who played a key role in launching Kaorbit Town, was confident of the service's growth as South Korea's only exchange-customized metaverse platform. I'm sure Korbit Town is South Korea's only exchange-customized metaverse," he said in an interview with Aju Business Daily.
Metaverse is a virtual environment where various social and cultural activities take place. Each user can create their own personalized characters called "avatars" and access the real world-like virtual world using smartphones, PCs, or virtual reality headsets. Various South Korean companies have adopted metaverse platforms to bridge the gap between online and offline spaces.
In November 2021, Korbit's domestic competitor Dunamu unveiled a metaverse platform called "2ndblock" where anyone can open real-time meetings such as university lectures and business meetings. Because 2ndblock uses a 2D-based user interface, users can go anywhere using avatars and communicate with other members when avatars get closer. Dunamu aims to launch the platform's official service in the first half of 2022.
Choi said Korbit has created a differentiated metaverse space where users can communicate with other users and also as a marketing channel to gain rewards with virtual assets. "Korbit Town has many advantages that only we can do because it is a service customized for the exchange, not a service that benchmarks other metaverse services, from the beginning," he said,
In order to attract young customers into the exchange, Choi has devised a gamification device so that virtual asset rewards exchanged in Korbit Town can be traded directly on the exchange. "For profits to occur, metaverse must have content that can make many people stay," Choi said, giving a familiar example in the game market in which players get tokens as rewards by playing games.
"We aim to provide consumers with experience and fun following all services related to virtual assets," Choi said. Korbit would use metaverse as a passage for visitors to the exchange rather than immediately using it as a monetization model. The goal is to create an economic ecosystem where up to 10,000 simultaneous users gather.
"We will upgrade content such as Korbit's various services and NFTs to expand our metaverse platform," Choi said. In November 2021, Korbit attracted 90 billion won from SK Square, a company spun off from South Korea's top mobile carrier SK Telecom to focus on semiconductors and information and information and communications technology (ICT). Korbit would work with SK Square to diversify its content.
(This story is based on an interview conducted by Aju Business Daily reporter Suh Min-ji)
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
