Danal Expands Token Economy-Based Ecosystem...Reevaluates Valuation as Platform Company

Payments with Paycoin available at offline stores and platform companies
Content creation and user transactions possible on metaverse platform 'Jefworld' launching next year

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] Danal is expanding its token economy-based ecosystem by entering businesses such as payment services, digital content, franchises, and rental services. Furthermore, as its scope broadens to the metaverse ecosystem, Hi Investment & Securities analyzes that a revaluation of the company's valuation is necessary.

According to Hi Investment & Securities on the 13th, Danal has subsidiaries such as 'PayProtocol AG' and 'Danal Fintech' to build a cryptocurrency-based economic system. Each issues Paycoin to support new economic services using Paycoin and operates payment services utilizing Paycoin on behalf of merchants.

Danal is rapidly expanding Paycoin payment merchants centered on franchises closely related to daily life, such as cafes, convenience stores, and movie theaters, by actively utilizing existing affiliated stores and ecosystems. Recently, by partnering with GS Retail, which owns about 16,000 offline stores, Paycoin payments became available at GS25 convenience stores and GS The Fresh supermarkets.

In addition, Paycoin can be used for payments on platform companies. On Google Play, Google Gift Cards, which can be used to purchase various content such as games, movies, TV, and applications (apps), can be purchased with Paycoin at the Gift Mall. Also, at Flex Store, a subsidiary of Danal's Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform company Flexpay, high-priced electronics such as mobile phones and laptops can be purchased in installments using Paycoin.

Lee Sang-heon, a researcher at Hi Investment & Securities, predicted, "As the number of Paycoin payment merchants increases in the payment market, the number of users will increase, which will in turn induce the inflow of other merchants, creating a network effect in the future." He added, "Due to this infrastructure increase, market trust, which is the most important factor in cryptocurrency, will also rise."

Danal is also attempting expansion into the metaverse ecosystem. Danal secured about 67 billion KRW by selling its stake in K Bank, and Danal Entertainment secured about 50 billion KRW by selling its stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit. These funds will be used for global market expansion of payment services centered on Paycoin and investments in subsidiaries and new businesses.

The metaverse platform 'Jeff World,' scheduled to launch in the first half of next year, is being developed with the goal of building a differentiated community-type ground. It is expected that active communication among users within the worldview will occur, leading to various content creation and economic activities among users. Additionally, Danal Entertainment plans to introduce 'Danal Meta Market,' where various non-fungible token (NFT) content can be traded without genre distinction, including entertainment such as music and video, indie bands, KPOP artists, specialized art content, and personal collection content.

The researcher explained, "By integrating the economic system centered on Paycoin in services such as the metaverse and NFTs, a token economy is being formed," and added, "Ultimately, as it expands into the metaverse ecosystem, the valuation as a platform company may be readjusted."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.