Can 32 Million Memories Become Assets? Cyworld 3.0's "Web3 Revival" Tests the Order of Data Restoration and Tokens

What was announced

On August 10, Sigmachain held a press conference in Seoul announcing it had acquired a license to Cyworld's intellectual property. It plans to open a beta in October and launch the full service in the first half of 2027. The beta will first offer friend connections and a feed, plus identity verification so users can recover past accounts and photos.

The target is about 17 billion records (3.8 petabytes) of photos and posts from 32 million members, which the company says it will restore in-house without outsourcing.

What "Web3" means here

As revenue models, the company is considering letting users turn mini-homepage content into NFTs, and linking stablecoins issued by financial institutions to the purchase of "dotori," the old cyber-currency. Revenue would be split 40% to users, 40% to creators and 20% to the platform.

However, the CEO has stated that the beta will not be tied to any proprietary coin or token, citing past user losses from Cyworld-related coins. In other words, "Web3" remains a future option.

Three unresolved questions

First, funding: the company has not disclosed how much capital it has for long-term operations. Second, rights: the former operator's CEO disputes the legality of the acquisition, and the cyworld.com domain has not been transferred. Third, technical capability: a blockchain patent the company registered in 2019 has lapsed for non-payment of fees. Its claimed performance of 300,000 transactions per second was documented by a certified testing lab, but reportedly not directly certified by the accreditation body.

The structural question: what must be returned before anything is monetized

What users want first is their photos and diaries back. The former operator's CEO has likewise argued that restoring 3.8PB of data should come before new revenue models. By Web3's own ideal of data sovereignty, NFTs should be an option offered after data is returned. Getting the order wrong risks the venture being seen as "cashing in on memories."

Implications for Japan

Japan is also seeing more ventures that take over data and IP from shuttered social networks and games to "revive" them. Cyworld shows that blockchain adds value to dormant IP only after user data has been returned and rights have been cleanly resolved.

[Business Development Insights]

1. When reviving dormant IP, keep the sequence of data return, then community rebuilding, then monetization. Placing NFTs and tokens last lowers both regulatory and reputational risk.
2. Deals in which the chain of rights (IP, domain, data) cannot be consolidated up front stall regardless of technical merit. Legal is the first item of due diligence.
3. Using external stablecoins for payment instead of issuing a proprietary token can be applied in Japan as a model of sourcing prepaid or electronic payment instruments from outside providers.

[Sources]

• Digital Today (via Nate): https://m.news.nate.com/view/20260810n25822
• Digital Daily interview (via Nate): https://m.news.nate.com/view/20260810n25634
• Digital Daily: https://www.ddaily.co.kr/page/view/2026081117573983382
• Sidae Ilbo: https://www.sidae.com/article/2026083110132195586
• Yonhap (via Nate): https://m.news.nate.com/view/20260810n22806
• eToday: https://www.etoday.co.kr/news/view/2612879