Ava Labs, which is behind the layer-1 blockchain Avalanche, has partnered with SK Planet, a division of the South Korean company SK Square that provides data administration and marketing platforms. SK Planet will introduce Avalanche Subnet UPTN to provide Web3 infrastructure in South Korea. The partnership was disclosed less than one month after the New York-based digital asset company hired its first new employees in Asia to expand its presence there. The move follows Ava Labs’ February partnership with Tencent Cloud, which intended to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology by conventional enterprises.
According to the vice president of business development at Ava Labs, John Nahas, “Ava Labs has worked with the South Korean developer community for years to help them understand and build on the Avalanche network.” Nahas continued, “However, the most recent collaboration with SK Planet will serve as the foundation of its regional plan.”
Nahas stated, “This is our first significant partnership with a leading South Korean company, and the partnership will be a pillar of our market development strategies. SK Planet’s parent company, SK Square, was separated from SK Telecom, a major telecommunications company in South Korea. Ava Labs recently formed a partnership with SK Planet and organized an event called ‘Avalanche Day’ for Korean developers and other associates.
According to Nahas, SK Planet will introduce its Avalanche Subnet, UPTN, and utilize it to implement various SK applications and services. Additionally, Nahas mentioned that there are more Subnets in the pipeline. SK Planet customers and merchants will be able to utilize digital collectibles, Web3 wallets, decentralized communities, and other features through the Avalanche Subnet UPTN.
SK Planets has developed an application called OK Cashbag, which is a program that offers membership rewards to customers who use the app and earn points. Clients have the option to utilize their points as currency in various retail establishments such as restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, retail financial applications, and other similar places. According to SK Planet, they have a large number of OK Cashbag users, which is almost 50% of the population of South Korea, and they collaborate with 90,000 merchant partners.
Nahas stated that the UPTN would function as the foundation for SK’s ICT business division’s Web 3 initiative and would also act as the MSP for NFT mining infrastructure, Web 3 community management, and growth. This is comparable to Avalanche’s recent partnerships with Shopify/Venly and TYB.
Currently, Avalanche is developing and testing over 100 subnets. Its Subnets allow individuals and enterprises to build customized, app-specific blockchains for their use cases.
In a statement, Emin Gun Sirer, the CEO of Ava Labs, expressed the company’s complete dedication to aiding South Korean buyers and merchants in discovering the distinctive advantages of the Avalanche ecosystem. The collaboration among Ava Labs, the Avalanche Foundation, and SK Planet is viewed as a great chance to satisfy the high demand for Web3 experiences in South Korea and broaden the scope of modern e-commerce.
