Bithumb, a South Korean-based cryptocurrency exchange platform, is currently working with a “large company” to develop an NFT marketplace. Many believe this mystery company to be LG CNS, a subsidiary of the world-renowned LG Corporation.
Bithumb CEO Heo Baek-young verified during an interview back on January 13 that they were in the middle of developing a non-fungible token (NFT) exchange because they want to remain competitive with two other South Korean exchanges known as Korbit and Upbit.
Bithumb has yet to confirm who the content creators or artists involved will be in this upcoming new platform. According to various South Korean media outlets, the NFT marketplace currently in development is in partnership with LG CNS. However, Bithumb’s official statement on January 17 says that “it is impossible to confirm whether it is LG CNS and whether it is just them or a group of companies.”
Developing and launching an NFT marketplace would undoubtedly help Bithum compete with the other up-and-coming networks in South Korea. At this time, Bithumb ranks second place among other Korean crypto exchanges according to trading volume. However, it’s way behind Upbit, which has a 24-hour trading volume of $1.7 billion, while Bithumb only has $730 million.
In November 2021, Upbit launched its NFT marketplace. It undoubtedly came with some hype because it secured a deal with various popular K-pop groups, including the incredibly popular BTS. On the other hand, the Korbit crypto exchange launched its NFT marketplace in June 2021. Owned by gaming giant Nexon, Korbit was the first exchange in South Korea to launch such a marketplace.
Although global NFT traders prefer minting and trading their NFTs on OpenSea, Korean traders prefer centralized platforms. Even though the Klaytn blockchain is a South Korean development and one of the three platforms with OpenSea native support, trading volume on that blockchain falls behind other marketplaces under Polygon and Ethereum.
