Blockchain developer Ava Labs partners with Korea’s SK Planet to expand Asia footprint

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Ava Labsa company that builds out the layer-1 blockchain Avalanche has partnered with SK Planetthe data management and marketing platform unit of the South Korean company The SK square. SK Planet will launch Avalanche Subnet UPTN to provide Web3 infrastructure in South Korea.

The partnership comes less than a month after the New York-based digital asset firm was hired its first new heads in Asia in the service of accelerating its footprint in the region. The move also follows Ava Labs’ partnership with Tencent Cloud in February to help scale blockchain adoption across traditional enterprises.

Ava Labs has been working with the developer community in South Korea for years to help them understand and build on the Avalanche network, John Nahas, vice president of business development at Ava Labs, told TechCrunch. Nevertheless, the latest partnership with SK Planet will be a cornerstone of the strategy in the region, Nahas added.

“This is our first marquee partnership with a top South Korean company, and the partnership will be a cornerstone of our growth plans in the market,” Nahas told TechCrunch.

SK Square, the parent company of SK Planet, was spun off from the South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom. Just last week, Ava Labs entered into a partnership agreement with SK Planet and hosted oneThe landslide day‘ with Korean developers and other partners.

SK Planet is launching its Avalanche subnet, UPTN, and will begin deploying a variety of SK applications and services on the subnet, Nahas said, adding that potential additional subnets are on the way. Avalanche Subnet UPTN will allow SK Planet customers and sellers to use digital collectibles, Web3 wallets, decentralized communities and more.

One such application is SK Planets’ OK Cashbag, a membership rewards program that allows customers to earn points by using the OK Cashbag app. Customers can use the points as cash across stores, from restaurants to hotels, movie theaters, retail financial apps and more. SK Planet claims to have tens of millions of OK Cashbag users, almost half of the South Korean population, and works with 90,000 trading partners.

“UPTN will serve as the platform for the Web 3 initiative of all apps in SK’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) business division, and will also be the Managed Service Provider (MSP) for infrastructure in NFT mining, Web 3 community growth and management — similar to Avalanche’s recent Shopify/Venly and TYB partnerships,” Nahas continued.

Avalanche has more than 100 subnets under development and in the testing phase. Its subnet allows individuals and businesses to build custom, app-specific blockchains for their use cases.

“Ava Labs is fully committed to supporting South Korea’s buyers and sellers as they explore the unique benefits of the Avalanche ecosystem,” Ava Labs CEO Emin Gun Sirer said in a statement. “We see this new partnership between Ava Labs, Avalanche Foundation and SK Planet as an incredible opportunity to not only meet South Korea’s huge appetite for Web3 experiences, but expand what is possible in 21st century e-commerce. ”