South Korea To Pour $187M Into ‘World-class Metaverse Ecosystem’

By 2026, South Korea’s government wants to create the fifth-largest metaverse market in the world

article-image

blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Seoul aims to become the first city to enter the metaverse, Mayor Oh Se-hoon said last November
  • The country does not currently permit the use of NFTs or token issuance in gaming

South Korea will spend at least $186.7 million, or 223.7 billion Korean won, to create its metaverse ecosystem, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology. 

The investment is a part of South Korea’s “Digital New Deal” — a set of policies that aim to help build out emerging digital technologies such as the metaverse and artificial intelligence platforms.

“It is important to create a world-class metaverse ecosystem as the starting point to intensively foster a new hyper-connected industry,” Park Yungyu, the ministry’s head of communication and policy, said in a translated statement.

The government agency said the capital will go toward the metaverse in particular, which it hopes will become a platform enabling industries and businesses to thrive.  

The metaverse has the potential to create 1.5 million jobs, and the country plans to produce over 40,000 professionals that specialize in the nascent space, the ministry stated in January. South Korea’s government, at the time, endeavored to make the country the fifth-largest metaverse market by 2026.

“I’m very much keen to believe that Korea is positioned to become one of the biggest metaverse players,” Alex Salnikov, co-founder at NFT marketplace Rarible, previously told Blockworks.

In an effort to push the country to the top of the global metaverse market, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it wanted to build “Metaverse Seoul” last November.

By 2023, Seoul aims to create a metaverse where citizens can deal with civil complaints and consultations — virtually. Using virtual reality headsets, citizens could visit a virtual city hall as avatars instead of having to go in real life.

Seoul aims to become the first city to enter the metaverse, the capital’s mayor, Oh Se-hoon, said last November.

“The ‘Metaverse Seoul’ initiative announced last year, and the commitment by the South Korean government to lead the global metaverse race in five years, certainly puts the country at the forefront,” Noah Gaynor, co-founder of metaverse startup Parcel, said to Blockworks. “But based on what we’re seeing, and the decentralized nature of the open metaverse, no single country or organization will rule the metaverse. This is a truly global movement with no geographical boundaries.”

The metaverse, however, is commonly associated with cryptoassets such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens). South Korea currently prohibits the use of any NFTs or token issuance in its gaming — which may pose a threat to its ambitious metaverse plans.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Institutional players are energized by huge market shifts, “the scale of which you haven’t even imagined”

article-image

A memecoin short squeeze pushed Hyperliquid to the brink — and revealed decentralization limits

article-image

Tools for Humanity’s Developer Reward pilot program kicks off on April 1

article-image

Blockworks Research analyst Boccaccio explains the HyperLiquid controversy and why they need to adjust risk and margin

article-image

What Grayscale’s watching going into the second quarter and why crypto had a rough start to the year

article-image

Sol’s price drop was partially triggered by one of the year’s more chaotic memecoin events