Business Giant Hankook Readies Crypto, NFT Move

Hankook Technology, a prominent, South Korean, KOSDAQ-listed IT firm has announced that it is branching out into crypto and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). (Updated at UTC 17:27 on November 16, 2021, to correct information about Hankook Technology included in the first paragraph.)

Per Fn News, the business group will unveil its plans at a meeting to be held at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on December 24.

The company explained that it will look to pursue lines of business that “make use of NFTs and cryptocurrency” – looking to tie the move in with its real estate-related business operations. The firm plans to create “blockchain and crypto”-powered real estate “asset trading and brokerage” services and “blockchain”-related real estate “development” business avenues.

The firm’s CEO was quoted as explaining:

“This is the first case whereby a company has combined real estate sales and cryptocurrency. This new sales paradigm will be a game-changer in the future sales market.”

Hankook Technology plans to issue NFTs or a cryptoasset that will allow parties to pay for construction costs, contracts, and property sales, and plans to hire a new director – an “expert” who will be able to “combine cryptocurrency with the real estate sale market.”

Hankook has had considerable success with non-core business operations in recent months. Using its status as a minority shareholder in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), a troubled ship-making firm that found itself cash-strapped after its sales fell by 44.7% in the first half of 2021, Hankook successfully turned the company around. DSME is now hoping to pull off a merger with a rival domestic ship-maker, if it can overcome regulatory difficulties with EU anti-monopoly laws.

Other South Korean companies pursuing NFT-related business have received a boost in recent days. Earlier this week, the top financial regulator stated that it does not consider NFTs to be cryptoassets and hinted that it has no plans to tax them under new capital gains tax laws.

Meanwhile, NCSoft, the gamemaker behind the Lineage titles has recently unveiled plans to launch a game that makes use of NFTs next year – with Bloomberg reporting that new helped boost stock prices by a record 30%, helping it “to its highest level since August.”
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