Polygon Labs and South Korean telecom giant SK Telecom (SKT) announced a strategic partnership in August 2023 to expand Web3 services and support new blockchain startups.
The agreement connected SKT’s NFT marketplace, TopPort, and its Web3 wallet to Polygon. The plan also included finding promising Web3 startups and helping them grow. SKT said in its press release that Polygon support would let TopPort creators mint NFTs on Polygon and connect with other NFT platforms in the network.
.@SKtelecom and Polygon Labs have inked a strategic collaboration to spearhead the development of SKT’s Web3 ecosystem. 🌐
The collaboration aims to fuse SKT’s telecom prowess with Polygon’s blockchain scaling infrastructure so SKT users can enjoy experiences unique to web3 environments with secure, high-speed & cost-efficient transactions.
Additionally, the collaboration has global aspirations, opening doors for competitive Web3 startups to make their mark in South Korea and for globally leading dApps to step into the domestic market, fuelling popularization of Web3 technologies .
SKT will integrate Polygon blockchain support into its NFT marketplace, TopPort, and its Web3 wallet to enhance user experiences and drive blockchain tech adoption.
Here’s everything you need to know about the collaboration: https://t.co/o2jLteTdAU
— Polygon (@0xPolygon) August 17, 2023
The partnership started with NFTs
The deal gave SKT a way to connect its Web3 products to a larger blockchain network.
TopPort had already launched before the partnership. SKT said Polygon support would let creators issue Polygon-based NFTs and make those assets usable across other Polygon NFT marketplaces. Its Web3 wallet was also planned to support Polygon and NFT trading.
This was part of SKT’s larger effort to bring blockchain services to its large customer base. The company had already linked TopPort with its ifland metaverse, allowing users to use NFT items for avatars and virtual spaces.
Polygon also planned to consider investments in startups recommended by SKT through Polygon Ventures. The two companies wanted to help Korean Web3 firms reach users outside South Korea and bring global blockchain projects into the Korean market.
The partnership reflected the main Web3 trend of 2023: large companies were testing NFTs, wallets and digital items as possible new online services.
But the market has changed since then. NFT trading has cooled from its 2021–2022 peak, while stablecoins and blockchain payments have become much larger parts of the crypto market. Polygon has also changed its own focus.
Also Read: Polygon CEO Explains Layoffs Ahead of Coinme Acquisition
Polygon has moved toward payments
Polygon’s network is now being built more heavily around fast, cheap payments. In 2024, Polygon replaced MATIC with POL as the network’s main token. Polygon said that the change was part of its plan to build a larger network of connected chains through AggLayer. By September 2025, Polygon said 99% of MATIC on its network had moved to POL.
The change also came with a new focus on payments. In 2025, Polygon outlined plans to reach 100,000 transactions per second and make the network more useful for global money transfers.
That plan has moved quickly. In 2026, Polygon said its network had reached 5,000 payments per second after several upgrades. It also launched the Open Money Stack, a set of tools for businesses that want to move stablecoins, connect wallets and handle payment services.
Polygon has also joined Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program, which brings crypto companies and financial firms together to work on blockchain-based payments.
This makes the old SKT partnership more interesting today. The 2023 deal was mainly about NFTs, wallets and Web3 startups. Polygon’s current work is much more focused on moving money onchain.
SKT’s original announcement still shows how the relationship began, but the wider market has moved on from NFTs as the main Web3 use case.
The bigger question is now whether partnerships between telecom firms and blockchain companies can turn into everyday services. For Polygon, payments and stablecoins may provide a much larger path to that goal than NFTs alone.
Enjoyed this? Bookmark DeFi Planet, explore related topics, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and CoinMarketCap Community for seamless access to high-quality industry insights.
Take control of your crypto portfolio with DEFI PLANET PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.
