Cyworld, which in the past saw three virtual asset (coin) projects fall through or suffered coin delistings, announced the resumption of its service along with a new coin business. A shareholder company also claimed the relaunch is invalid, saying the ownership of Cyworld's business rights changed during a legal dispute.
Blockchain corporations Sigma Chain held a "Cyworld 3.0" press conference titled "Cyworld is born again" at 2 p.m. on the 10th at Courtyard Marriott Seoul Namdaemun in Jung-gu, Seoul.
Cyworld 3.0 will restore Cyworld's existing data and reorganize it into a Blockchain-based Web3 service. In cooperation with the financial sector that issues stablecoins, the plan is to link acorns, which were used as digital goods on Cyworld, to stablecoins.
Sigma Chain said it is in talks with the financial sector to enable users to make account transfers and card payments using acorns, and is pursuing a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license. It added that detailed service plans will be released after the service unveiling.
In the past, Cyworld pushed three virtual asset businesses — ▲Acorn (DTR) ▲Cy Acorn (DOTR) ▲Cyclub — but the issuance of Acorn and Cy Acorn fell through. The two virtual assets even conducted a presale (advance sale). A presale is an event where, before a virtual asset project lists on an official exchange, tokens are sold in advance to retail investors at a discounted price to raise initial funds.
Cyclub was listed on domestic virtual asset exchange Bithumb in Sep. 2020, but was delisted in Nov. 2022 after operations effectively halted due to friction between Cyworld's operating company Cyworld Z and Betalabs, a partner of the Cyclub foundation.
At the time, the two companies were engaged in a legal dispute over the right to use the Cyworld brand. Cyworld Z terminated its agreement with Betalabs in Jan. 2022, saying Betalabs had set up companies such as Cyworld B and Cyworld W and used the brand without authorization. Betalabs filed a lawsuit, saying the unilateral termination of the contractual relationship was unlawful.
The Supreme Court ruled in Betalabs' favor in Jan. this year, but tensions persist even after the announcement of the newly revived Cyworld 3.0 business. During the lawsuit, the owner of the business rights to Cyworld changed to Cyworld Z, Cy Communications, Sonid, and Sigma Chain.
Betalabs says it cannot recognize the legal effect of the business rights acquired by Sigma Chain because Betalabs, which holds 15.21% equity, and IntroMedic, the largest shareholder of Cyworld Z, were never notified of or asked to consent to a shareholders' meeting regarding the sale of Cyworld.
Betalabs said it will pursue additional injunctive relief and damages, arguing that the Cyworld Blockchain business rights confirmed by the Supreme Court conflict with Sigma Chain's newly proposed Web3 and virtual asset businesses. Sigma Chain's position is that there is no issue because the acquisition was completed through lawful procedures in response to Betalabs' claims.