The country in the Far East may soon be at the forefront of the blockchain business once more. This occurs as a result of the rapid adoption of NFT by the local population.
South Korea’s status as a technical trailblazer and leader is swiftly spreading to the blockchain space. The popularity of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) has exploded in the small East Asian country.
In the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index, South Korea was ranked among the top ten countries in the world as of 2020.
Tech behemoths demonstrate this level of innovation to global retail customers. Samsung and LG are two examples, as well as Krafton, a gaming developer.
Those businesses, along with a slew of others, are now dabbling in the NFT market by sending out fresh collections to clients. Simultaneously, they established divisions within their corporation dedicated to the development of NFTs.
Exposing Retail Customers
There could be various reasons for the rush to introduce NFTs to retail customers and the general public. This is more than just a thank-you gift for making a purchase.
Alex Lim, the Strategy Lead of the Korea-based KlayChicken NFT project, proposed this notion. He claims that NFTs are all the rage, but that many people have no idea why.
Lim went on to say that the NFT craze in South Korea derives from a mix of emotions. He feels the time will come in the second half of the year for the entire South Korean NFT industry to take a quantum jump.
Quantum Leap Reasons
The lack of a tax on digital assets in South Korea may be one factor contributing to this quantum leap. The tax on cryptocurrency has been postponed until 2023. President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, on the other hand, may try to push the tax back until 2024.
Furthermore, NFTs are not subject to the same regulations as cryptocurrency. Although the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is attempting to adopt new NFT laws, none have yet been implemented. This has maintained the market open for a slew of new marketplaces to emerge on exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb. Other firms, such as gaming behemoth Krafton, are also profiting from NFTs.
GM Chung is co-founder and CEO of DeSpread, a blockchain ecosystem accelerator located in Korea. He believes that practical NFT use-cases will become increasingly popular in his nation.
In the future, he anticipates NFTs to evolve into a social on-chain profile layer that also includes transaction history. Previously, buying NFTs for community engagement was a common practice. The proliferation of NFT utilities, on the other hand, is thought to be a big factor (for its rise in utilization).
NFT Invasion
President-elect Yoon issued an NFT collection while campaigning. This group of followers might mint in order to feel like they were a part of his cause.
Hoseo University in South Korea went above and beyond by issuing NFT diplomas to its 2,830 graduating students on March 18. Money Today, a local news organization, stated in February that the institution has planned to issue NFTs. This is to improve student accessibility and convenience while also preventing diploma forgery.
Chung may be exaggerating the usefulness NFTs provide to market players. Last month, the Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning announced a $187.7 million grant to assist the development of a national Metaverse. The new award is likely to benefit content creators the most.
Reaping Rewards
Increased demand for content producers’ services in generating NFT designs for a variety of companies appears to be paying off for content creators. On the main job search website JobKorea, a simple search for NFT yields 753 unique job openings for content creators and business professionals.
In-game goods and characters, as well as emoticons for text messaging apps, have been the most frequent digital assets created by those producers. Stablenode Doo Wan Nam is a co-founder of a crypto investing firm. He argues that Koreans’ familiarity with digital assets is the reason for their rapid adoption of NFTs.
When it comes to NFT, another type of digital asset, he claims that Koreans are more receptive and understanding. NFTs are now being included in the business plans of content creators and businesses, according to Lim. This is because they now recognize NFTs’ potential and utility.
He went on to say that for each content creator, developing a supportive community to boost brand strength has always been an unavoidable, though challenging undertaking.
