Korean Solana expansion gets $20 million boost

Published at: June 3, 2021

Solana-related news has surfed a number of headlines in recent months. The blockchain now appears headed for major strides in Korea, with significant funding for its surrounding ecosystem. 

"As one of the largest crypto markets globally, Korea has an extraordinarily high adoption rate of cryptocurrencies," a representative from Korean firm ROK Capital told Cointelegraph. "By expanding the Solana ecosystem in Korea, we hope to grow the awareness and adoption of decentralized applications on the Solana ecosystem as well as encourage and incubate local teams to build on Solana."

A new $20 million Solana Eco Fund — constructed by ROK Capital and the Solana Foundation — is now available to help out the world of solutions based around the Solana blockchain, said a Thursday public statement provided to Cointelegraph. Several projects have already received funding, including Synthetify and Symmetry.

“In addition to injecting capital, this new fund will provide tailored services for projects to successfully accelerate in Korea,” Brain Kang, a general partner at ROK Capital, said.

“By partnering with Solana, the firm hopes to bootstrap a range of Solana-focused infrastructure projects, including those related to Web3, Defi, and NFTs,” the statement said of ROK Capital. “The focus will be on accelerating Solana’s expansion into the Korean market,” the statement added, subsequently noting additional involvement from DeSpread and FactBlock.

Earlier on Thursday, news came of another Solana ecosystem-spurring effort, the Solverse Accelerator. The initiative, which is supported by at least 21 companies, will provide mentorship and other resources in support of projects building on the Solana network. Wednesday also saw the opening of a Solana-based market for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, called Metaplex.

Solana’s native coin, SOL, sits in the 16th position on CoinMarketCap’s rankings list at a price of $39.01 per coin at the time of publication, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.6 billion.

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