[Post-IPO] TS Trillion's Stock Rollercoaster with Nonexistent 'NFT'... Losses Are Retail Investors' Burden②

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] TS Trillion, a KOSDAQ-listed company selling the hair loss functional shampoo ‘TS Shampoo,’ announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a non-fungible token (NFT) company, causing its stock price to fluctuate wildly. It was a brief attempt to ride the theme, but it was confirmed that nothing substantial had actually been carried out.

Moreover, when concerns were raised that this could be problematic, the company quietly backtracked by recalling the already distributed press release. In this process, only the investors who bought the stock after hearing the NFT news suffered massive losses.

Jang Gi-young, CEO of TS Trillion (left), signing a business agreement on blockchain and NFT projects.

According to the related industry on the 1st, TS Trillion distributed a press release on the 16th of last month stating that it had signed a business agreement with an NFT-related company regarding blockchain and NFT business.

At that time, NFT-related stocks were showing strength in the stock market. Companies engaged in blockchain, NFT businesses, or developing play-to-earn (P2E) games were experiencing continuous price increases. TS Trillion also jumped on this trend.

In fact, TS Trillion distributed a press release around 2:30 PM on the 16th of last month announcing the MOU with the NFT company, and the stock price, which had been declining, suddenly surged by up to 6.82%. The stock price started at 980 won and reached 1,050 won.

However, as sell orders poured in at the peak, the stock price turned bearish again and eventually closed the day down 1%. Investors who bought TS Trillion’s stock at the peak after hearing the NFT news suffered about an 8% loss in a single day.

Coincidentally, the 16th of last month was the day after TS Trillion released its third-quarter business report. TS Trillion recorded an operating loss of 4.3 billion won on a cumulative basis for the third quarter this year. This is far below the 10 billion won profit forecasted at the time of listing at the end of last year. Following the NFT-related news, the stock price declined again and closed at 833 won as of the previous day.

The NFT company with which TS Trillion signed the MOU is a corporation called ‘CDF Switzerland GmbH.’ Although registered in Switzerland, most of the CEO and management are Korean. CDF stands for Coin Duty Free, a company aiming to create blockchain coins usable at duty-free shops.

The business promoted by this company is a startup project that began in September. It is known to be currently building its business model and developing technology, and is in the early stages of seeking project partner companies. Recently, it has been reported that they are selling some of their own coins to certain investors through a ‘private sale.’

TS Trillion made a large-scale promotion of the MOU with a company that has no clear achievements yet, presenting it as securing global marketing channels and establishing a foothold in overseas markets.

Regarding this, a TS Trillion official explained, “We signed the MOU to review whether synergy could be created since CDF is conducting real-based businesses in tourism, shopping, medical, entertainment, and beauty sectors,” adding, “Currently, no legal contracts or any procedural progress have been made.”

In the market, there are criticisms that excessively promoting an MOU with a startup company can disrupt the market. In fact, Doosan Duty Free Mall, which signed an MOU with CDF in October, requested confidentiality to reduce confusion after a press release was distributed without the company’s intention.

However, TS Trillion took the initiative to create and distribute the press release and attempted to form an NFT theme.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that TS Trillion requested media outlets that had published articles based on the NFT-related press release to delete the articles once the investigation began.