Hong Kong blockchain-based gaming firm Animoca Brands and South Korea entertainment firm Cube Entertainment (Cube Ent) announced Monday a joint venture for the purposes of building a music metaverse, and issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and ecosystem tokens based on the intellectual property rights of Cube Ent’s globally popular K-pop music artists and actors.

Both parties said in a statement, the joint venture will issue NFTs using resources including digital sound sources, albums, portraits, and avatars of globally popular K-pop artists under the management of Cube Ent, which will enable true digital property rights and other blockchain benefits for artists and their fans.

According to the statement, Cube Ent has 50 talents under management, including K-pop artists Jo Kwon, BTOB, PENTAGON, CLC, (G)I-DLE, LIGHTSUM, entertainers Park Mi Sun, Lee Hwee Jae, Lee Sang Jun, Kim Kyung Ah, Heo Kyeong Hwan, Lee Eun Ji, actors Park Sun Young, Kim Jin Woo, Na In Woo, Moon Su In, Seoung You, Yoo Seonho, and entertainers Kong Seo Yeong and Jung Ji Woo.

“K-pop is taking the world by storm, and here at Animoca Brands we can’t wait to work with Cube Ent and its roster of K-pop artists as we continue our efforts to make the open metaverse a reality,” said Yat Siu, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Animoca Brands.

Ahn Woo Hyung, Chief Executive Officer of Cube Ent, also said: “We are excited to collaborate with Animoca Brands to create NFTs and an associated ecosystem featuring Cube Ent’s IPs of music, images, and more. We anticipate this will be an important beginning for leading the global digital culture market and advancing the digital content industry.”

NFTs are digital assets and collectibles that possess many characteristics normally associated with physical items, including authenticity, rarity, scarcity, ownership, provenance, and other properties that are independently guaranteed, verified, and secured on blockchain.

Unlike most digital content, which is temporarily provided to users on a licensing basis, NFTs are truly ownable – just like physical collectibles. These characteristics of NFTs allow them to attain significant value as digital collectibles.

Animoca Brands, is a company in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that is driving digital property rights via NFTs and gaming to help build the open metaverse. It develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing over 325 popular intellectual properties including Formula 1®, Marvel, WWE, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Doraemon.

The company has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Bondly, and Lympo. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 100 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized projects that are contributing to building the open metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Bitski, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others.

Meanwhile, Cube Ent operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. The company finds rookies with potential, trains them with a professional system, develops them into outstanding artists with excellent skills and attitudes to produce quality content for the global market.

Experts from various parts of the industry utilize their analytic skills and efficient system to bring artists to the pinnacle of the K-pop industry. In 2022, Cube Ent aims to provide more intimate experiences to fans through promotions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and all around the world.

Animoca Brands raises $65M at $2.2B valuation from Ubisoft, Sequoia China, Dragonfly Capital, others