SEOUL, South Korea & HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metaps Plus, a leading Korean fintech company and a subsidiary of Tokyo-listed Metaps Group (TSE:6172), has entered into a strategic partnership with OST to develop Blockchain-powered coupons and mobile payments by leveraging OST technology and the OpenST and OpenST Mosaic Protocols.
Founded in 2009, Metaps Plus operates a Marketing platform for mobile apps, servicing 300,000 daily active users and achieving 100 million app downloads every year. It also operates Korea’s largest mobile coupon platform and partners with 34,000 merchants, processing USD $140 million of coupon transactions in 2017.
The collaboration with OST will initially focus on tokenizing mobile coupons. Although mobile apps have made coupons much more convenient and user-friendly, end-customers still face many traditional limitations. For example, a coupon typically has an expiration date, can only be used at specific stores/locations, and may require minimum purchase thresholds. This limits their value and adoption, frustrating both consumers and businesses.
Blockchain tokens can solve many of these issues as they are tradable and have inherent market value, bringing more flexibility to users. To mirror the large variety of coupons that Metaps Plus currently processes, this partnership will tap into key areas of Blockchain development such as Non-Fungible-Tokens (“NFT”), which are designed to represent unique digital assets.
“Metaps Plus is leading the charge in bringing Blockchain technology to mass consumers in Korea. Working with OST will help Metaps Plus create Mobile Coupons 2.0 and pave a whole new way for users to adopt, use and even trade coupons,” says Seungyeon Kim, CEO, Metaps Plus.
“OST shares our vision and values and is building cutting-edge Blockchain infrastructure and tools. We look forward to working together, leveraging our established business network in Korea and OST’s technical expertise, thus bringing more opportunities to customers, brands, and merchants,” says Jisoon Lim, CSO, Metaps Plus.
“Blockchain technology will revolutionise loyalty programs across the world, empowering consumers by allowing them to own what they have earned. We are thrilled to partner with Metaps Plus, and to work with them to build a next-generation mobile coupon ecosystem,” says Dr. Chris Dark, Co-Founder and CCO of OST.
About Metaps Plus
Metaps Plus is a Korean fintech platform founded in 2009. It operates the domestically top-ranked app marketing reward platform NAS (Trademark registration 4012646300000) and has 300,000 DAU, achieving 100 million app downloads every year. In January 2016, it acquired the mobile commerce company 'SMARTCON' and became the largest mobile fintech company in Korea. It operates the largest mobile voucher platform in Korea and partners with about 34,000 merchants. For more information, please visit http://www.metapsplus.com/
About OST
OST blockchain infrastructure empowers new economies for mainstream businesses and emerging DApps. OST leads development of the OpenST Protocol, a framework for tokenizing businesses and the OpenST Mosaic Protocol for running meta-blockchains to scale Ethereum applications to billions of users. OST KIT is a full-stack suite of turnkey developer tools, APIs and SDKs for managing blockchain economies. OST partners reach more than 300 million end-users. OST has offices in Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, and Pune. OST is backed by leading institutional equity investors including Tencent, Greycroft, Vectr Ventures and 500 Startups.
