SK Planet to Reduce Web3 Business… Mokabus Partnership Draws a Line at ‘Marketing Level’

It appears that SK Planet, a subsidiary of the SK Group, is scaling down its Web3 business. It is analyzed that as the SK Group is focusing all its efforts on artificial intelligence (AI), investments in blockchain-related projects have been pushed to the back burner.

According to the industry on the 14th, SK Planet has recently reorganized its organization by dissolving the Web3 task force (TF) and reallocating its personnel to existing business divisions. The operating staff of the Avalanche-based virtual asset wallet 'Upton Station' has also been transferred to the OK Cashbag business division. This decision comes after SK Telecom recently abolished its Web3-dedicated organization.



In June 2023, SK Planet officially entered the blockchain business by adding an Non-Fungible Token (NFT) membership to OK Cashbag. They launched the NFT membership service 'Road to Rich' and the virtual asset wallet Upton Station. At the time, former SK Planet CEO Lee Han-sang emphasized this as a "rebranding of the 24-year-old OK Cashbag".

However, the ambitious Web3 business, which started with high expectations, has not achieved clear results and has been put on hold after about 1 year and 6 months. In particular, it was reported that SK Planet is also reducing the strategic partnership it made with the blockchain project Mocaverse last November. Originally, the two companies agreed to introduce blockchain technology to SK Planet's major services, including OK Cashbag, but the actual scope of cooperation was limited to the marketing level.

This has revealed differences in the positions of the two parties. A Mocaverse official said, "We are still developing related applications with SK Planet," but SK Planet said, "It's a story we haven't heard of" and "For now, it's just Web2-level marketing cooperation".

Both inside and outside the industry, this organizational restructuring is interpreted as being linked to the recent change in business strategy of the SK Group. An industry source said, "As major companies modify their investment direction due to the AI boom, it seems that the Web3 business is being reviewed".

An SK Planet official explained the organizational restructuring, saying, "It is to strengthen the responsibility for each service and to improve organizational efficiency in order to secure growth momentum." He added, "It was done from the perspective of strengthening the linkage and collaboration between planning, business areas, and development for each service, and streamlining work processes. We plan to strengthen the competitiveness of our core businesses based on efficient and stable service operations in the future."

Reporter Yeri Do

yeri.do@decenter.kr