Korbit exchange launches first South Korean NFT marketplace

South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Korbit launches its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace that enables Asian artists and investors to participate in the trade. It is the first NFT trading platform in the country announced by the company upon its launch.

Starting May 31, creators and digital art owners from the region are encouraged to put up their NFTs for sale on the platform for potential buyers. This includes crypto investors who want to make a profit by reselling NFTs in their possession.

All NFT transactions from the platform will be carried out via the Ethereum blockchain with ETH as its native coin.

‘The local NFT market is still in a fledgling stage, compared to global ones, and the Korbit platform will help create synergy between the blockchain ecosystem and various sectors, including art, visual media and gaming,’ Korbit CEO Oh Se-Jin said in a statement reported by The Korea Herald.

Although Korbit is the first exchange to create an NFT marketplace, local Korean artists have already made private sales of their artworks. In March 2021, contemporary artist Mari Kim sold her digital animated artwork titled ‘Missing and Found’ for 288 ETH tokens.

Kim’s 10-second animated work is also the first NFT sold in South Korea. The artwork amounts to around US$700,000 upon writing.

Pica Project, a local co-sharing platform for artists held the auction for Kim’s ‘Missing and Found.’ In a report by The Korea Herald, Song Ja-Ho, the CEO of the platform shared that young collectors think art is something special because they enjoy and earn profit from it at the same time.

The NFT market has experienced a mainstream boom over the past few months of 2021 following Beeple’s artwork ‘Everydays: the First 5000 Days’ selling for US$69 million at Christie’s auction.

Moreover, a Korean artist named Baek Nam-june put up his video artwork titled ‘Global Groove’ at Christie’s.

NFTs allow collectors to enjoy and purchase the tokens from supported platforms. It works by means of storing a unit of data on the blockchain that represents ownership of a unique digital item ranging from images to audio files.

The technology behind NFTs offers a solution for duplication problems in the digital art scene through provenance and proof of authenticity present in the blockchain. It also has a feature that enables the creators to reap royalty fees when the piece is resold by the crypto investor.

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