Bangkok, Thailand/Seoul, South Korea - Thailand's SCBX and South Korea's HASHED have formalized a joint venture.
The partnership, anchored by a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), aims to promote innovation in Web 3.0 - an advanced version of the Internet that focuses on decentralization.
The Key Points
- Strategic Alliance: Both companies will strengthen their research and development (R&D) in Web3 technologies. Under the leadership of HASHED, a subsidiary called ShardLab was founded to conduct groundbreaking research in blockchain technology and develop prototypes.
- Financial decentralization: SCBX, a central financial holding company in Thailand affiliated with Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), recently revealed its ambitions to transform from a finance-centric model to one with technology at its core. HASHED, known for investing in protocol economy companies, aligns with this vision.
- Global expansion: The collaboration between SCBX and HASHED has broader implications, intending to foster the growth of the Web 3.0 ecosystem and influence markets beyond Southeast Asia.
Web3.0: The New Frontier of Decentralization:
Web 3.0, the decentralized Web, represents an evolution of current Internet models emphasizing user control, decentralization, and enhanced privacy.
The alliance between SCBX and HASHED illustrates a concerted effort to grasp this transformative technology and recognize its applicability in real-world scenarios.
HASHED's CEO, Simon Seojoon Kim, expressed his belief in the potential of this partnership, stating that the combination of SCBX's financial acumen and HASHED's technological expertise will prove instrumental in advancing the Web 3.0 environment regionally and internationally.
This collaboration is particularly noteworthy given the contrasting attitudes of Asian financial institutions towards cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Despite the prevailing caution, SCB, through its venture arm SCBX, made headlines in 2021 with the launch of a $50 million blockchain fund.
This initiative starkly contrasts that of its competitor, Kasikornbank (KBank), which recently unveiled a more substantial $100 million fund focused on Web3 and AI.
As the joint effort between SCBX and HASHED unfolds, the latter will spearhead trials of Web 3.0 technologies through its research center, ShardLab.
The two companies have yet to name specific projects they're working on, but that's expected shortly.
