이 기사는 2021년 12월 21일 06시55분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Line Corp, part of South Korea’s internet giant Naver, has launched two subsidiaries dedicated to non-fungible tokens (NFT), one in the domestic market and the other in the United States, as it seeks to expand its NFT business into global markets.

Line Next, created in South Korea, will be wholly owned by Line Corp, while the newly created US unit will be wholly owned by Line Next to become a second-tier subsidiary of Line Corp, the company said on Thursday. Both units will be led by Ko Young-su, Line’s chief product officer.

NFTs are digital assets with unique identifying codes which can be bought and sold on the blockchain. A range of assets such as art, music and land can be transformed into NFTs.

With NFTs dominating gaming and other digital assets within the metaverse, the number of NFT exchanges is on the rise. South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, operated by Dunamu, also launched a beta service of NFT trading platform Upbit NFT in November.

In South Korea, however, there is regulatory uncertainty, with the country’s financial watchdog still conducting a review to decide whether or not NFTs fall under virtual assets.

If some of NFTs are classified as virtual assets under South Korea law, which is highly likely in the future, NFT exchanges operating without license could be forced to suspend their operations and even be charged with illegal business activities.

This is apparently the reason that Line decided to establish two NFT subsidiaries in South Korea and the US, respectively. The company intends to expand its foothold in the global NFT ecosystem through the US unit while letting the South Korean unit play a role as a think tank.

Expansion beyond Japan

Line has already been doing blockchain-based business in Japan for the past years through its subsidiaries such as Unblock and Unchain. But it decided to create new entities dedicated to NFTs, a move seen as part of efforts by the company to reduce its reliance on the Japanese market.

Line, Japan's most popular messaging app with more than 86 million users, entered the NFT market in the country this year, creating Line Friends characters in NFT format and selling NFT background images in partnership with metaverse platform Zepeto.

Line has made it clear that it aims to expand across geographies beyond Japan. “The newly created units are dedicated to expanding our NFT business into global markets and are currently recruiting staff,” an official at Line said. (Reporting by Yun-ju Roh)