[BizLeader] Lee Jin-yeop, CEO of EightOne, "Securing Top-Level Blockchain and STO Technology"

Transformation into a Fintech Company through Bold New Business Investments like Blockchain
"Turnaround in the Second Half of This Year, Expecting Operating Profit and Revenue Results"

Jinyeop Lee, CEO of Eight One.

"Aitwon is a company with a technology-intensive business that connects STO and blockchain."

On the 28th of last month, Yoon Chang-hyun, a member of the People Power Party, proposed an amendment to the Capital Markets Act allowing the issuance of token securities (STO). As the STO market, which has been a key keyword in the financial sector, becomes busier, we met with Lee Jin-yeop, CEO of Aitwon, an IT company making its presence felt in the STO market.

On the 18th, Lee Jin-yeop, CEO of Aitwon, met with Asia Economy and emphasized that his company is a Web 3.0-based fintech company possessing core blockchain and STO technologies.

Until now, Aitwon has been known as a company focusing on defense (military supply) business, specializing in experiential VR (virtual reality) simulations and metaverse. Its subsidiary KMT conducted simulations for the KF-16 fighter jet and K1A1 tank, and at the end of last year, Aitwon directly secured the technical manual contract for the FA-50GF fighter jet exported to Poland.

Such Aitwon is diversifying its business through STO and building an image as a fintech company. We asked CEO Lee Jin-yeop about his future management plans.

Q. What changes have occurred since the largest shareholder changed this year?

A. In April, upon welcoming a new largest shareholder, Aitwon officially declared its entry into the STO business and strengthened its STO business by acquiring the fintech business division of Medium, which possesses world-class blockchain technology.

Medium is an IT company engaged in various businesses such as finance and fintech, gaming, and virtual asset issuance and distribution. Our company acquired the business operation headquarters responsible for Medium's finance and fintech sector, securing human resources, intellectual property rights, and physical assets to establish a foundation for promoting the fintech business.

In particular, through the succession of employees' employment, we succeeded in securing key sales and development personnel in the fintech field, and actively recruited external STO talents from prominent securities firms, including former Casa Korea COO Park Sang-il.

Q. Why did you acquire Medium's fintech business division?

A. To promote the STO business, which will be our new growth engine, we needed technology capable of delivering world-class blockchain processing speeds.

The blockchain underlying STO divides transaction information into numerous blocks, generating an enormous amount of data. Therefore, increasing the processing speed of blockchain data has become the most important factor. Medium possesses technology capable of processing blockchain data at speeds exceeding 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), so we judged that acquiring Medium's fintech business would be sufficient to secure a favorable position in the STO market.

Considering that the Central Bank of Korea's recently announced CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) pilot system test processed 1,900 to 2,100 TPS, and the domestic electronic financial joint network's peak average TPS (on month-end or payroll days) was about 1,200, we can confidently say that acquiring Medium's fintech technology, which achieves over 10,000 TPS, is a success.

We predict that when blockchain-based platforms are fully introduced into the domestic financial market, a sharp increase in data processing per second will be necessary. We expect Aitwon to benefit from this.

Q. How is the STO business progressing?

A. To succeed in the STO market, it is essential to discover and tokenize various tangible and intangible assets. To this end, we have partnered with Eggverse, which has NFT technology, and Euracle, a developer of financial asset trading systems, and signed business agreements with Seongji Construction, Goryeo Asset Development, and Mugunghwa Trust to promote real estate STO and other projects.

We are also developing STO-related platforms with major domestic conglomerates and forming consortia with financial institutions to carry out specific projects such as electronic promissory note STO. Additionally, we are taking swift steps to secure market leadership by applying for innovative financial services to expedite STO business promotion.

The industry expects Aitwon to participate in the establishment and semi-permanent maintenance of blockchain infrastructure for account management institutions that manage token securities issuance.

Q. Have there been any difficulties?

A. We conducted intensive restructuring to expand our existing defense business and stabilize management while succeeding in the new fintech business. We also pursued large-scale investment attraction.

During this process, some employees left the company, and the schedule for issuing convertible bonds to secure financial soundness was somewhat delayed. As CEO, I deeply regret this and expect it to be resolved soon.

However, shareholder value was threatened by the spread of false information that misled the company. We will respond strongly to protect shareholders and take civil and criminal actions according to law and principles.

Q. What are your future goals?

A. We expect that investment attraction will be completed soon, significantly improving financial soundness. We will complete the organization for promoting the STO fintech business, a new financial market, and expect to achieve meaningful results within a few months in the domestic first-tier financial institutions, major public institutions, and local government projects. We also anticipate remarkable growth in our existing core defense business.

Furthermore, we plan to actively pursue overseas expansion by establishing a regional corporation in Asia and collaborating on global fintech business with the UAE Royal Office.

All executives and employees of Aitwon are doing their best to achieve a turnaround and return to profitability in the second half of the year. We will lead efforts to enhance shareholder value through increased sales and profits and grow Aitwon into a valuation company with greater value, not just a military simulation or STO company.