SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, “SKT”) has revealed a groundbreaking collaboration with Aptos Labs, Brevan Howard, and Microsoft aimed at revolutionizing the global financial landscape. Together, they introduce Aptos Ascend, an extensive suite of institutional solutions. This offering encompasses a permissioned network and Digital Asset Controls, leveraging SKT’s Wallet-as-a-Service product and the highly scalable and secure Aptos blockchain.
Key to this partnership is the involvement of Brevan Howard, a renowned leader in the financial industry, which will contribute its expertise to facilitate major banks and financial institutions in offering digital currency and asset management solutions responsibly and at scale.
Aptos Labs has chosen Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as its preferred consulting partner, harnessing BCG’s global proficiency in decentralized finance, digital assets, and AI to assist companies in implementing these innovative solutions. BCG’s track record in delivering large-scale digital transformations for major financial institutions underscores its suitability for this role.
Oh Se-hyeon, Vice President and Head of Web3 CO at SKT, emphasized the potential of this partnership in driving innovation within the financial market, particularly with the growing trend of tokenization in traditional finance. SKT’s T wallet, founded upon its trusted KYC/authentication business experience, aims to provide a secure platform for various crypto services with high reliability and security.
Mo Shaikh, Co-Founder & CEO of Aptos Labs, highlighted the necessity for superior levels of compliance, security, and innovation in global financial institutions. Aptos Ascend aims to provide a performant, compliant, secure, and scalable gateway to decentralized finance, ensuring adaptability for future developments.
Adrian Crockett, GM & Head of Product at Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services, expressed Microsoft’s support for Aptos and the Ascend Project, emphasizing the potential at the intersection of AI and distributed ledger technologies in financial services.
Gautam Sharma, CEO & CIO of Brevan Howard Digital, echoed the sentiment, emphasizing their belief in the positive impact of Web3 and blockchain technology on the financial services industry.
Aptos Ascend aims to bring together traditional finance giants, innovative fintech partners, money market platforms, and global investment firms into the Web3 fold. Key features include unparalleled transaction efficiency, secure asset management through Move smart contract language and Digital Asset Controls, collaboration opportunities, and dedicated support from Aptos Labs’ engineering team.
The suite will leverage Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service, Brevan Howard’s investment expertise, and SKT’s regulatory-compliant Web3 technology to deliver innovative trade finance offerings on a decentralized, scalable, and accessible network. BCG’s strategic consulting expertise will ensure seamless implementation within institutions.
Immediate benefits include expanding decentralized finance to institutional capital, unlocking the uncollateralized lending market for Web3, and releasing the liquidity of tokenized assets globally.
Aptos Ascend is tailored to help regulated institutions meet their obligations to customers, regulators, and stakeholders. It offers customizable configurations to meet specific business and regulatory requirements, including access controls, transaction type management, privacy tools, and embedded KYC/AML features.
