Lee Hae-jin, chair of the Naver (NAVER) board, said, "Dreams and a mission for the global market are Naver's biggest foundation," adding, "Web3 (see keywords) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be applied across all services going forward."
On the 27th, at the Naver 1784 Sky Hall in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, the chair held a press briefing and made the remarks about the merger between Naver Financial and Dunamu.
The chair said, "Song Chi-hyung, the Dunamu chair, is a former genius developer with technical depth and a strong will for research," and added, "If we work together, it seemed we could contribute not only to business but also to the development of Naver and Korea's software (SW) industry, so I proposed the merger."
Song said, "There is a case where, after adding crypto payments to a shopping mall, about 20% paid with crypto. I strongly wanted to take on the global market together with Naver."
After the merger, Naver plans to invest 10 trillion won to preempt the global Fintech (a portmanteau of finance and technology) market. Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon said, "We are considering prioritizing investment in graphics processing units (GPU), which underpin AI and web3," adding, "10 trillion won is a minimum scale, and we are also considering investment in Start - Up companies."
After the merger, Song is expected to lead related businesses at Naver Financial. Naver Financial CEO Park Sang-jin said, "Nothing is set in stone, but Naver Financial's composition will change, and key executives, including Chair Song Chi-hyung, are likely to come and manage," adding, "Dunamu operates a business independent from Naver Financial, so the board will be formed accordingly."
Asked whether Song is emerging as the next Naver leadership, the chair said, "It is not at a stage to comment," adding, "Song is someone who can greatly contribute to Naver's technological capabilities and the discovery of new technologies."
Dunamu is also preparing a won-denominated stablecoin business. Oh Kyoung-suk, the Dunamu CEO, said, "We are preparing the business in line with the direction of government policy."
☞what is web3
Web3 is a term that encompasses technologies that decentralize data ownership and control on the internet. If web1 was a simple read-only bulletin board and web2 read-write data, web3 adds "ownership" to that.