NAVER revs up its NFT arm

South Korea’s internet juggernaut NAVER Corp. is gearing up to enter the NFT business – through its affiliate LINE Corp.

LINE NEXT, a venture by LINE Corp., announced on Wednesday it will hire some 100 experienced workers for 21 positions in five job categories; namely development, planning, business, marketing, and UI design. 

Developers will not only work on building the global and Japanese NFT platforms but also develop and manage the LINE blockchain mainnet, wallet, and its own cryptocurrency dubbed LINK. The planning, business, and marketing groups will be tasked with building a Web 3.0 based and carrying out their respective responsibilities for the global NFT platform. 

Mainnet refers to an operational blockchain and network, as opposed to testnet, signet, and regtest networks, which are used for testing purposes.

The NFT arm of LINE was launched in South Korea and the United States on Dec. 16, 2021.

The venture is made up of two companies; with the Korea-based LINE NEXT Corp. focusing on the strategy and planning of the global NFT platform and the US-based LINE NEXT Inc. working on the operational side. 

The goal of the new venture is to provide an innovative digital experience to users by building on LINE’s blockchain technology. The global platform will support companies and creators in 180 countries in eight languages.

The platform slated to launch in a few months is tentatively named DOSI. 

LINE NEXT said it plans to provide an ecosystem in which general users can use wallets specialized for NFT trading. The wallet will be compatible with credit cards, Ether, Bitcoin, and LINK.

Since establishing LINE Blockchain Lab in 2018, the tech giant has not only issued LINK but also operates crypto-asset exchanges LINE BITMAX in Japan and BITFRONT globally. In addition, LINE operates a blockchain service development platform called LINE Blockchain Developers Platform.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.