SK Telecom launches NFT marketplace open beta service

South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co. launched an open beta service of its non-fungible tokens (NFTs) marketplace TopPort as the company aims to seek future growth engines given the saturation of its existing telco business.

TopPort showcased about 3,000 works of major domestic NFT producers such as Kansong Metaverse Museum, the project by Kansong Art Museum, the country’s first modern private museum, as well as 20 local NFT artists, SK Telecom said on Wednesday in a statement.

The marketplace provides NFT creators with various functions including NFT collection composition, NTF minting and community management while helping customers without expertise purchase NFT works with digital wallets.

SK Telecom simplified the purchasing process by allowing buyers to pay in the South Korean won currency instead of the cryptocurrencies that existing NFT marketplaces require.

It also introduced a web3 wallet, a digital platform for access to the web3 space, to support recovery in the event of a private key loss without storing a user’s key, improving convenience and safety. Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics.

SK Telecom aims to vitalize TopPort with various services such as NFT presents, auctions and more community services for interactions between creators and buyers.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.