Shatner May Have Conquered Space, but 4 South Korean ETFs Beat Him to the Metaverse

Four major South Korean asset management funds have listed metaverse-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the first in the country, the Korea Herald reported Wednesday.

• KB Asset Management kicked off KBSTAR iSelect Metaverse, a passive fund that will follow indexes related to the metaverse, which is virtual space that can be shared by many people. KB follows the iSelect Metaverse Index, inclusion to which is determined by factors such as a company’s industry exposure and future growth potential.

• NH Amundi Asset Management launched Hanaro Fn K-Metaverse MZ, a passive fund. NH scored metaverse-related keywords to pick its top 20 stocks, and added 10 consumer-goods industry stocks. NH excluded automobile companies.

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• Mirae Asset Global Investment’s metaverse product, Tiger Fn Metaverse ETF, has FnGuide’s metaverse index as its benchmark. That index fund follows about 20 companies.

• Samsung Asset Management actively manages its KODEX K-Metaverse Active ETF.

• Samsung and Mirae Asset, which released lists of the companies included in their funds. The list reveals a focus on the entertainment and gaming industries.

• Samsung’s Metaverse ETF comprises Hybe, Naver, Krafton, Peal Abyss and JContentree.

• Mirae Asset’s list included Naver, LG Innotek, Hybe, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment.

• Hybe, established in 2005, represents the popular boy band BTS.

• Krafton and Peal Abyss, which are in Samsung’s metaverse fund, are South Korea’s leading video game makers.