KT Corporation, the South Korean telecommunications giant with more than $32 billion in total assetsis closing its non-fungible token platform, MINCL, starting March 4 company cited “shifting business conditions” as the reason behind the closure of the platform, which is operated under the group’s digital transformation subsidiary KT Enterprise.
The announcement directed holders of KT Wiz Rookie Pack NFTs – the digital card collectibles commemorating the company’s professional baseball team – to transfer the NFTs to e-wallets outside of MINCL. Users will not be able to view or download any remaining NFTs after the service end date.
MINCL launched in April 2022, offering NFT coin, trading and wallet services for retail and institutional users.
KT did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for comment.
South Korea is rethinking the Web3 hype
Last month, South Korean game developer Netmarble F&C said reportedly fired all 70 employees in the metaverse division and the subsidiary is liquidating. In 2022, Netmarble chairman Bang Jun-hyuk said expressed his confidence in metaverse is an important future business opportunity.
Competing local game maker Com2uS restructured all staff in its metaverse division Com2Verse last September, after it reportedly recorded approximately $9.7 million in operating losses in the third quarter of 2023.
So is Hyundai Department Store, the retail conglomerate under the Hyundai Group ending its digital wallet service, H.NFT, from the end of March.
Park Hye-jin, a metaverse technology specialist at the Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies, told The Block that business leaders may not see a future with continued businesses that have not delivered significant profits in the short term. “These kinds of things always happen when a big company challenges or starts new businesses based on FOMO,” Park told The Block.