Kakao Games' Metabora Issued Cryptocurrency 'Bora' Also on the Decline

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Following the service disruption of Kakao due to a data center fire, Bora, a cryptocurrency issued by Metabora, a subsidiary of Kakao Games, also showed a downward trend.

According to the global cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinMarketCap, as of 8:25 a.m. on the 18th, the price of Bora was recorded at $0.2207, down 4.99% from $0.2323 (approximately 333.58 KRW) around 3 p.m. on the 15th.

Bora's price, which had been rising since around 9 a.m. on the 15th, increased to $0.2351 by 12:50 p.m. It then declined but recovered to $0.2295 by around 9 a.m. on the 16th, before showing a downward trend again. On the morning of the 17th, it dropped to $0.2158, a sharp decline of 7.10% compared to the price at 3 p.m. on the 15th.

The fire also caused a disruption in the Bora blockchain platform service operated by Metabora. Bora posted an English notice on its official Twitter stating that access to the golf game Birdie Shot was temporarily unavailable due to the fire. They added, "We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible." The next day, Bora announced, "The recovery work has been completed, and all Metabora services are operating stably," adding, "There is no data lost or damaged due to the fire."

While Bora's price was declining, cryptocurrencies related to Line and Telegram, which have attracted attention as alternative messengers to KakaoTalk, showed slight increases. According to WiseApp, Retail, and Goods, an app and retail analysis service, a survey of domestic smartphone users aged 10 and above found that on the 16th, the number of KakaoTalk users was 39.05 million, a decrease of 2.07 million from 41.12 million users on the 14th before the fire. Meanwhile, the number of Line and Telegram users increased by 850,000 and 220,000 respectively, totaling 1.28 million.

The price of Link, a cryptocurrency issued by Line, fell to $28.11 on the 16th but rose to $29.19 by the morning of the 18th. Additionally, Toncoin, a cryptocurrency usable on Telegram and also called Telegram Coin or Gram, rose from $1.2242 at around 8:50 p.m. on the 17th to $1.25.