Klaytn has announced a new partnership with Indonesian business conglomerate PT Pelayaran Korindo and global Web3 CeDeFi platform NEOPIN in order to jointly work on tokenized ship financing.

Korindo will tap into Klaytn and NEOPIN’s expertise in tokenization and blockchain development to tokenize Korindo’s ship-related assets.

Why Does Tokenization For Ship Finance Matter?

Traditionally, ship finance has involved the financing and purchasing of new ships by offering the ships themselves as collateral. Given the often large sums of money involved in such a project, ship financing has often only been accessible to institutional investors who have the ability to invest in such projects.

Coinlive spoke to Christopher Koo, Corporate Communications and Content Manager at Klaytn, about what can be expected from this new partnership.

“With any tokenization and fractionalization of high-value assets, we can expect increased liquidity, more efficient markets, and greater access to the asset for the general population.”

-Christopher Koo, Corporate Communications and Content Manager, Klaytn Foundation

Some of the possible benefits that this tokenization would bring include cheaper loans for Korindo, as well as access to faster funding.

For investors, tokenization would break down barriers to entry for retail investors, and to invest an amounts appropriate for their comfort level and risk appetite.

Therefore, the tokenization of Korindo’s ship assets are expected to help the group accelerate their business growth, while also opening access to ship financing opportunities to retail investors.

Sangmin Seo, Representative Director of the Klatyn Foundation, explained that the Klaytn blockchain's "fast processing speeds and low fees… that would satisfy both investment product investment issuers and general users.”

In addition, Kim Yong-Ki, CEO of NEOPIN, also revealed plans for NEOPIN to introduce attractive real-world asset products that are easily accessible.

“Together with PT Pelayaran Korindo and the Klaytn Foundation, we will lead the global RWA market, starting with ship finance”, declared Kim.

Klaytn’s experiences with real-world asset tokenization

This new partnership with NEOPIN and PT Penlayaran Korindo is not the first time that Klaytn is delving into asset tokenization.

Over the past year, the Klaytn Foundation has been supporting financial platform CREDER on a new gold-pegged token, known as $GPC, that will be launching around the end of the month.

While Koo admits that gold-pegged tokens are nothing new, he also pointed out that many such tokens that are currently available have room for improvement.

“The only gold token readily available on DeFi with significant liquidity is built on Ethereum, which makes gas fees an issue. And almost every gold token out there is charging fees for transferring, buying, and selling of the token, on top of the gas fees that users are paying if they transact on-chain. Furthermore, most of the gold tokens are custodied or backed by either unnamed vaults or by companies set up by the project itself, which makes it risky.

Where $GPC differs from the rest is that it will be launching on DeFi and won’t have fees attached to trades or transfers. And since it’s going to be on the Klaytn blockchain, gas fees won’t be an issue.”

-Chrisopher Koo, Corporate Communications and Content Manager, Klaytn Foundation

The new $GPC token is thus expected to make gold more readily accessible for anyone, and Klaytn is also planning to launch a gold staking service alongside $GPC, meaning that users can stake $GPC to earn yields.

The token itself is backed by the Korea Gold Exchange.

Aside from this, Klaytn has also partnered with Prometheus Space Power and Crypto Workers DAO to explore the creation of a tokenized renewable energy market in Europe. The goal is to build a sustainable, community-centric energy production and profits distribution system to promote decentralised electricity generation worldwide.

Moving forward, Koo states that Klaytn remains open to further collaboration on RWA tokenization projects.

“As a foundation, we don’t build anything ourselves. But if this particular ship tokenization project is a success and PT Pelayaran Korindo wants to tokenize more ships or more parts of their shipping business, of course we will welcome them to.

We are open to any RWA tokenization projects, but we will prioritise projects that actually have a big impact from tokenization.”

-Christopher Koo, Corporate Communications and Content Manager, Klaytn Foundation