The Binance platform has entered into a partnership with YG Entertainment, a major South Korean record company, in order to develop the metaverse and create a market of NFTs around K-pop music stars. The opportunity for Binance to make a place for itself in South Korea?
Binance establishes a strategic partnership in South Korea
The exchange platform Binance will be able to expand its activities in South Korea thanks to a partnership with YG Entertainment, one of the three biggest South Korean record companies, which produces internationally renowned groups such as Blackpink, Winner and BigBang.
The memorandum of understanding signed between the two parties stipulates that Binance will be able to develop digital assets based on the intellectual property of artists produced by YG Entertainment.
Few details have been revealed, but it is already known that this strategic partnership will allow the development of blockchain projects, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The construction of a metaverse and the development of video games through the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) would also be in the cards.
“As a leader in K-pop, we plan to gradually build an innovative and environmentally friendly NFT ecosystem. The collaboration with Binance has provided YG with royalties and business opportunities for quality content. We also hope it will strengthen the connection between fans and artists,”
said Bo Kyung Hwang, CEO of YG Entertainment.
An alliance at the top in uncertain territory
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, had already attempted to enter South Korea in 2020, but very quickly had to cease operations on the peninsula due to insufficient transaction volume.
However, South Koreans seem to have evolved towards crypto-currencies. Indeed, despite a rather strong regulation of the state as evidenced by the law of March 2021 on the obligation to provide proof of identity to use the exchange platforms, there is a lot of good news regarding the reception of crypto-assets on the territory.
As far back as April, video game giant Nexon invested $100 million in buying bitcoins. In November, we learned that NFTs would escape the regulation of crypto-assets, and a month later, the government had decided to postpone the 20% taxation of digital assets to the year 2023.
Woori Financial Group, the 4th largest bank in South Korea, had also made a move towards cryptocurrency holders by offering a custody service.
So, if things continue to go in the right direction, this partnership between Binance and YG Entertainment could meet with success commensurate with that of NFTs, but also with that of K-pop, a booming music sector for which more than 50 million albums were sold in the year 2021 alone.
