South Korean Banks Still Keeping Faith in NFTs – Report

South Korean banks are struggling to make their NFT business operations profitable, but will reportedly continue to press ahead with their non-fungible token-related plans.

Per Sijang Kyungjae, banks in the nation are bucking a bigger trend that makes grim reading for South Korean NFT enthusiasts.

South Korean Banks to Buck NFT Trends?

The telecoms giant KT and the tech titan Naver have both recently shuttered their NFT businesses.

And Lambda256, a subsidiary of the crypto exchange operator Dunamu, posted a net loss of 6.4 billion won ($4.7 million) last year.

Some of Lambda256’s most notable projects revolve around NFT tie-ins and an NFT marketplace.

To compound the matter, the global NFT market has declined since its heyday in the early 2020s – when many South Korean banks and tech firms launched NFT arms.

However, despite the NFT downturn in South Korea and elsewhere, major commercial banks remain keen.

And many are refusing to turn their back on the sector. An unnamed South Korean banking official told the media outlet:

“In South Korea, NFT trading has been stagnant while the cryptoasset trading market has grown. The trend has continued for the past several years.”

The official claimed that this was “because user accessibility is low” as many people “don’t know how to trade NFTs.” The industry insider explained:

“The [banking] industry no longer expects to make huge profits from NFTs. However, since nobody knows how the market will change in the future, banks are still looking for new sources of income. And that is why they trying to steadily pursue NFT business with their business expansion and marketing efforts.”

The banking unit of South Korea’s Woori Financial Group provided tens of millions of dollars in inappropriate loans to relatives of the group’s former boss, the country’s financial regulator said https://t.co/cyPJWIShZa

— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) August 11, 2024

Major Banks Expanding NFT Offerings?

Some of the South Korean banks currently active in the NFT sector include heavyweights like Shinhan Bank, Kookmin (KB), NongHyup (NH), Hana, and Woori Bank.

Shinhan Bank has focused on sport and gaming-themed NFT projects – particularly in the baseball world – since 2022.

The bank has continued on this track this year, and recently unveiled a “membership NFT” for the Com2uS mobile game Com2uS Pro Baseball 2024.

The bank has also offered blockchain conference attendees with promotional NFTs that provided holders with coffee shop coupons and admission tickets.

Woori Bank, meanwhile, has rolled out a series of NFT tie-ins with bakery products at the convenience store chain CU.

Some bank officials have expressed caution, however. They pointed out that banks are “seeking to monetize” NFTs. But they warned that “the companies they want to collaborate with are disappearing.”