South Korea-based metaverse blockchain ecosystem Klaytn Foundation has joined forces with United States-based marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) OpenSea, to invest in the Asian NFT ecosystem.

Klaytn said in a statement the partnership, which was announced at NFT.NYC, is the first-of-its-kind dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of NFTs in Asia.

NFTs, which are unique (non-fungible) digital assets that are individually identifiable and traceable, are the key building blocks of the metaverse in Web3. The technology promises to enable individuals to have true ownership of digital assets, including user-created digital content distributed in the metaverse, or even digital representation of physical assets in the real world.

The partnership, which will include conference collaborations, ecosystem grants, and more, will scale-up the NFT ecosystem, strengthen ties, and bring greater visibility to Asian NFT projects worldwide, said Klaytn.

“We’re excited to partner with OpenSea on this critical step towards our vision of building a blockchain for metaverse, gamefi and the creator economy. Through these partnership initiatives, our goal is to draw out innovative use cases and support the growth of the Klaytn ecosystem in Asia,” said David Shin, Head of Global Adoption at Klaytn Foundation.

So far, Klaytn has forged strong partners in Asia, including Singapore-based Altava Group, Thailand-based East NFT, Japan-based Soramitsu and China-based Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), just to name a few.

More details on the various initiatives will be released at a later date on Klaytn official channels. Projects and developers can also tap on Klaytn Growth Fund (KGF), developers tools and resources, and look forward to an end-to-end metaverse support package that Klaytn is building through onboarding strategic partners to provide infrastructure and other support services.

Klaytn Foundation is a non-profit organization that was established to accelerate global adoption and ecosystem maturity on Klaytn. The foundation manages the $500 million Klaytn Growth Fund and operates alongside Krust, the holding company for all overseas ventures of internet giant Kakao Corp.

OpenSea is the world’s leading peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs. It is on a mission to help the world’s creators, collectors and collaborators own and shape their relationships directly.

The firm is building the world’s most trusted and inclusive NFT marketplace with the best selection – making minting, purchasing and selling NFTs frictionless and friendly, and offering unmatched selection and multi-chain options for creators and collectors of all kinds.

Headquartered in New York, the OpenSea leadership team comes from Google, Palantir, Lyft, Uber, Stanford and Berkeley. Investors include a16z, Paradigm, Coatue, YCombinator, Founders Fund, Coinbase Ventures, 1Confirmation, and Blockchain Capital.

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