[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] The corporate value of Nuriplex continues to be re-evaluated. Attention on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) appears to have influenced its stock price as well.
At 9:50 a.m. on the 8th, Nuriplex was trading at 11,150 won, up 2.76% from the previous day. The upward trend has continued since it surged to the price limit on the 28th of last month.
The Bank of Korea will conduct a pilot test of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with private companies in August. While Samsung SDS and LG CNS are closely watching the selection of business operators, big tech companies such as Naver and Kakao have also expressed their intention to participate.
As major countries move to regulate cryptocurrencies, the status of 'decentralized' cryptocurrencies is being shaken. Market attention is focusing on national coins, CBDCs. Last month, Lael Brainard, a FED board member and the next candidate for the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair, effectively formalized the issuance of a U.S. CBDC by stating, “The digital dollar will be a new central bank currency available to the general public.” CBDC is ‘digital cash’ directly issued by the central bank based on blockchain technology. Since it is guaranteed by the central bank, it has no price volatility.
The Bank of Korea plans to complete the first phase of experiments on basic CBDC functions such as issuance, circulation, and redemption by December this year, and to complete the second phase of experiments on extended CBDC functions and the application of enhanced privacy protection technologies by June next year.
Naver is aiming to secure a leading position in the domestic and international CBDC markets through subsidiaries such as Line Plus and Naver Financial. It is already discussing CBDC construction with countries in Latin America and Africa. Last month, Line signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nuriplex, a blockchain payment platform company, for a CBDC platform business with central banks in Latin America and Africa.
The CBDC platform will be developed based on Line’s blockchain platform. Nuriplex plans to cooperate in CBDC construction based on its business experience accumulated in those countries by participating in the national power grid industry, providing data processing software (SW) platforms to power companies in Latin America and Africa.
Elizabeth Park, CEO of Nuriplex, said, “The Nuriplex Group has already achieved successful business results in the national power grid industry in Latin America and Africa, and is discussing blockchain-based digital payment and platform services with partners worldwide. The combination of Nuriplex’s business development experience in Latin America and Africa and Line’s blockchain technology will be a great advantage in succeeding in the CBDC business opportunities in those regions.”
Naver is known to have its blockchain development subsidiary Unchain and Naver Financial form a consortium to participate in the bid for the CBDC pilot test initiated by the Bank of Korea from August to June next year.
Naver expects that its subsidiaries in blockchain and fintech will create synergy effects and achieve results in the CBDC business.
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