ShardLab — the technology arm of web3 venture capital firm Hashed — partnered with South Korean fintech Naver Pay to integrate non-fungible token (NFT) ticketing features.

According to a Nov. 20 announcement, Naver's annual technology conference DAN24. The event saw the issuance of nearly 21,000 NFTs and processed 8,850 transactions during a two-day event with 6,000 attendees.

During the conference, the digital assets were managed through the Naver Pay application — allowing for NFT use for admission, activity verification, and prize entry. This makes it one of South Korea's largest deployments of NFTs for real-world and event-based utilities.

NaverPay is South Korea’s most used mobile payment platform, according to Statista data. Mi-young Lee, Head of Pay Infrastructure and Business at Naver Pay said:

"DAN24 marks our first step in bringing NFT technology to Naver Pay Wallet, following the growing trend of NFT adoption in major events, concerts, and ticketing. [...] We will continue to work with leading Web3 companies to pioneer innovative digital experiences."

Integrating NFTs in Naver Pay alongside airdrop application-programming interfaces and smart contracts allows web3 to be accessible to a web2 user base. The integration relies on ShardLab’s infrastructure that allows abstracting all web3 complexity through APIs, backend smart contracts and more.

Unlike most decentralized applications requiring separate wallets, all the users could access their digital assets from within their usual wallets. Simon Kim, CEO of Hashed said:

“This collaboration with Naver Pay signifies a step forward in integrating Web3 technology into everyday digital experiences. [...] With our technical advisory and collaboration-friendly approach with Web2 companies, we can focus and accelerate the development of user-friendly Web3 infrastructure."

NFT-based tickets allowed attendees to hold proof-of-attendence while also streamlining authentication for event-related activities. The used were able to reap the rewards of a web3-based system while interacting in a familiar way not dissimilar to what they are used with web2.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.