SK Square chooses crypto and metaverse as its first investment after creation

Investors were unimpressed by SK Square Co.’s cryptocurrency and metaverse choices as its first investment after starting anew as a stand-alone investment entity upon separation from SK Telecom Co.

The company on Monday announced it will invest 90 billion won ($75.4 million) for a 35 percent stake in cryptocurrency exchange Korbit Inc., making it the second largest shareholder after NXC.

SK Square said the investment comes as part of efforts to expand portfolio in platform business. The company believes blockchain and virtual asset industries to become next-generation digital platform.

Shares of SK Square fell 7.32 percent to close at 76,000 won on Monday.

SK Square and Korbit plan to enhance Korbit’s service so that more individuals investing in virtual assets can earn more accurate and reliable investment information and carry out transactions in a safer environment. The two companies will also jointly introduce new services in metaverse and non-fungible token sectors.

SK Square is a newly set up investment company that spun off from SK Telecom in August. The company focuses on investment in chips and ICT areas. Under its umbrella are SK hynix, ADT Caps, 11Street, T Map Mobility, One Store, Contents Wavve, Dreamus Company, and SK Planet.

Korbit plans to create various business synergy with media and content affiliates of SK Square and use the channel to invite new users and offer more benefits to existing users. It will also introduce an integrated log-in service and decentralized identifier (DID)-based simple verification service.

SK Square also announced to invest 8 billion won for a 40 percent in three-dimensional digital human developer On Mind Inc. under Kakao Corp. Its first digital human SUA signed an advertising model contract with Unity Korea.

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