Dunamu, South Korea’s fintech giant operating several blockchains and securities platforms such as digital assets exchange Upbit, has disclosed plans to invest KRW500 billion ($385 million) in the Web3 space.
As reported by local news outlet the Korea JoongAng Daily, the South Korean fintech giant expects the investment to be able to create 10,000 jobs in the Web3 space in the next five years. CEO Lee Sirgoo said in a statement that aside from creating jobs, the investment will strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic industry.
“We plan to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic industry through an active investment and creation of jobs of the newly growing future industries, like blockchain, non-fungible token (NFT) and the metaverse,” Sirgoo said
Dunamu says it will open offices in all South Korean major cities to deploy the funds. The firm will also develop a training program to onboard new brains into the blockchain technology sector. This program will give preference to newly graduated university students who plan to create 500 new startups.
The announcement is coming after the government of South Korea also announced that it has budgeted KRW223.7 billion (around $117.1 million) to invest in metaverse projects. The government investment is part of its Digital New Deal project under the Ministry of Science and ICT.
However, the investment is not the first of its kind from Dunamu. In a similar program back in 2019, Dunamu revealed an investment of over $46 million in 26 different blockchain startups. Notably, that investment also came on the back of a bear market that saw many digital assets firms struggle.
South Korean scrutiny of the digital assets industry not relenting
Despite a desire to promote blockchain technology adoption, the South Korean government has often reiterated that the industry needs regulations. The government is serious about working on regulations for the industry it plans to introduce by 2024.
Before these regulations come into force, the government is also keen on protecting investors. Several digital assets firms have already come under intensified scrutiny from the government, of which Dunamu is one.
In April, the Korea Fair Trade Commission expressed concern over the monopolistic market share of Upbit, saying it would place it under high scrutiny. Another firm that has received similar treatment from the government is Terraform Labs (TFL), the core developer of the collapsed Terra blockchain.
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