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On November 27, 2025, a joint press conference between TEAM NAVER and Dunamu was held at NAVER’s 1784 headquarters. Present at the event were NAVER Chairman Lee Hae-jin, CEO Choi Soo-yeon, NAVER Pay CEO Park Sang-jin, Dunamu Chairman Song Chi-hyung, and CEO Oh Kyoung-suk, bringing together top management executives from all three companies. They shared their vision and ambition to combine their respective strengths to target global AI and Web3 markets. Below is an excerpt from the remarks by NAVER CEO Choi soo-yeon.

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A new business landscape shaped by NAVER’s AI and Dunamu’s Web3

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NAVER has built its unique On-service AI capability based on its quality data and technological capability acquired throughout the digital world, from shopping to simple payment, content, cloud, search, security, and infrastructure. Dunamu has increased its competitiveness in the token economy, on-chain service, and the Web3 sector based on its experience establishing and operating a world-class digital asset exchange.

Now, through the integration between two companies, Web3 has been added as a new axis to NAVER’s AI capability. Integration of companies that have each built their global competitiveness in AI and Web3 is an extremely rare attempt, one that is rarely seen even in IT powerhouses like the US and China.

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AI and Web3, a bold leap into a new era where two forces converge

We must especially pay close attention to the fact that the popularization of blockchain and the development of generative AI are both approaching a major inflection point. AI is creating new technological changes that trumps the smartphone revolution, and blockchain’s technological maturity is allowing more and more users to use blockchain technology seamlessly in their daily lives. Right now, when these two forces are converging, it is the most pivotal time to create new growth opportunities, and that is the biggest reason behind the NAVER-Dunamu partnership.

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Recognizing this critical opportunity, NAVER and Dunamu have joined hands to drive new innovation in the global market. By merging user-based data, technology, service, and capital of the two companies, the NAVER-Dunamu partnership will be able to create a full line-up in the truest sense across AI and Web3, and take a bold leap into the global Web3 market. Moreover, starting with finance, we plan on showcasing pioneering business models that leverages the conversion of AI and Web3 in various sectors including games, content, and more.

However, this partnership will not end at merely combining the capabilities of NAVER, NAVER Pay, and Dunamu. As other players with the relevant technology and service foundations are quickly emerging in the global market, Korea will not be able to survive in the long run just by the efforts of NAVER and Dunamu. That is why we will be focusing on creating a bigger ecosystem, beyond the growth of our two companies.

Towards that goal, we plan to invest more than 10 trillion Korean won over the next 5 years to foster talent in the AI, blockchain, and Web3 sectors, build a safe and trustworthy security environment, and actively support startups with potential. Through this investment, we will establish a foundation for the Korean technological ecosystem to grow as a whole and to collectively grow global competitiveness in the era of AI and Web3.

TEAM NAVER and Dunamu’s challenge is not merely an integration between two companies, but an effort to reshape the landscape of future industries. Our goal is to create a unique global network based on blockchain. Building on this, we aim to create a new user experience that seamlessly connects the online and offline chains from communities and commerce to content and finance, thereby opening up new industries and markets that have never existed before.