South Korean tech conglomerate Naver is launching its first crypto wallet, Naver Pay Wallet, in partnership with the sports-focused blockchain network Chiliz. Chiliz, a Layer-1 blockchain network created to support fan tokens, announced in an August 29 X post that it was selected as the first blockchain network for the wallet, which is available to over 33 million Naver users.
Notable Partnership from the Chiliz Team
Known as South Korea’s Google, Naver manages the country’s most-used search engine. According to Similarweb, it was South Korea’s most visited website last month with 1.7 billion visits. The wallet is managed by Naver subsidiary Naver Pay, which reportedly has over 97,000 users. Chiliz founder and CEO Alexandre Dreyfus commented to TechCrunch:
“Naver Pay Wallet aims to be a service centered around benefit and loyalty blockchain technology, rather than a typical crypto wallet.”
The wallet is in beta and is non-custodial; users will keep their private keys and can hold both cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Dreyfus mentioned that more functionality is yet to come with planned integrations with decentralized applications (DApps), fan tokens, and a user loyalty program.
The target customers are tech-savvy, already using Naver Pay digitally, and particularly interested in exploring blockchain technology in sports, entertainment, and crypto assets.
Details on the Subject
Although Chiliz is the first blockchain wallet, Dreyfus mentioned that Naver might add support for a broader range of blockchains in the future. Naver’s crypto wallet launch follows the company’s messaging app LINE’s transition to crypto, which started in Japan in 2011 and in which Naver still holds a significant stake.
LINE is preparing to receive so-called mini DApps, blockchain-based applications that operate within the messaging app, following the mainnet launch of the Kaia blockchain ecosystem on August 29. The Kaia ecosystem was created by merging LINE’s Finschia blockchain network with South Korean major social app producer Kakao’s Klaytn network in February.
