[Exclusive] Korean version of 'BAYC' NFT coming out... 'IP Business Rights to the Holder' > NFT_News KDCA(한국데이터공인인증원)

IPX (formerly Line Friends), an IP(intellectual property) platform company famous for characters such as Brown, Sally, and BT21, is starting a new IP-based non-fungible token(NFT) business. The main point is to hand over the business rights to commercially use the character to the person who bought the NFT, and help with marketing. This is the first attempt in Korea to open the character licenses of large corporations to the general public in the form of NFT. According to the information and communication(IT) industry on the 7th, IPX will launch the NFT series ‘OOZ & mates’ during this month on the world’s largest NFT platform OpenSea and the blockchain game platform PlayDapp’s NFT marketplace. It is characterized by recognizing the IP ownership of each NFT design for the person who owns the NFT. It is a way that individuals can make and sell official ‘goods (planned products)’ by using NFT designs on T-shirts or smartphone cases. A video or novel based on the NFT design. Secondary creations such as games may be produced. No matter how much you make, you don't have to pay royalties.

IPX official said, "We will allow NFT holders to commercialize IP as they wish, as long as they follow some guidelines to prevent the use of NFTs as harmful content," and " To make IP business, which was previously regarded as belonging to celebrities or brands, accessible to anyone." In this process, a market ecosystem is created by inducing price differences between Ooz NFTs. It is a way of making ‘rare item’, such as making only some of the 9999 wear sunglasses. Brand marketing is helped by IPX. The character of OOZ will be linked to the metaverse and game platforms. It has also prepared its own “a view of the world” which is considered the key to content success these days. It is a story about animals who lived in the 'Friends World' crash-landing on Earth and looking for a person to be their best friend.

Starting with emoticons(stickers) for Line messenger, the company will utilize its know-how and infrastructure that have grown its business into distribution and content. IPX sells 20,000 types of self-produced products based on character IP. Last year, it achieved 1 trillion won in transaction volume only with character IP. From 2016 to last year, the average annual growth rate of transaction volume reached 28%. At the end of last year, it opened a virtual store in the game-type metabus Play Together and started selling digital IP products.

On the other hand, the number of people jumping into the NFT market is steadily increasing. The number of NFT trading users on OpenC, the world's largest NFT trading platform, increased from 4 in June 2018 to 1,765,400 at the beginning of this month. This is why there are attempts to differentiate by adding IPs with commercial value. A typical example is the ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)’ series, which has the largest cumulative transaction amount among the world’s NFTs. 10,000 different monkey pictures are issued as NFTs and IP is given to the holder. The monkey image was used on household goods, clothes, and album jackets, and the brand value rose sharply as word of mouth spread. The series surpassed $2 billion (approximately 2.504 trillion won) In the US, there are also restaurants selling BAYC-themed food and clothes. A movie project made by BAYC holders is also in full swing. All NFTs, which were priced at $190 (240,000 won) at the time of their initial release, have all been sold out and are now traded only in the secondary market. The average price entered this month is about 153,000 dollars (192.1 million won).

Based on IP, it is possible to create an ecosystem led by creators and create a cool limited edition image. This is why celebrities such as Eminem, Neymar, Justin Bieber, and Madonna rushed to buy BAYC. Yuga Labs, which created BAYC, operates a dedicated SNS chat server that can only be used by NFT holders to maintain ‘their own league’. On the 20th and 23rd, a festival will be held in New York, USA, where only one person who has verified NFT ownership and one accompanying person can enter.

Reporter Seon Han Gyeol always@hankyung.com