One Store becomes a CROSS validator, bringing a 38-million-device app market onto the gamechain

In Brief:

• Nexus announced on July 15 that One Store — the Korean app marketplace pre-installed on over 38 million devices — has come aboard the CROSS Protocol network as a validator.
• The platform is the network’s third validator, joining H Lab and CertiK, and now operates node infrastructure handling block production, transaction validation and network security on CROSS Mainnet 2.0.
• The step comes after Nexus paid 62.6 billion won for an 89.03% stake in One Store, part of a roadmap to rebrand the CROSS mainnet as OneChain and the $CROSS token as $ONE.

One Store is now lending its weight to securing the very chain that could soon bear its name. According to Nexus’s July 15 statement, the Korean app marketplace has signed on to the CROSS Protocol as a validator, assuming responsibility for block production, transaction validation and network security across CROSS Mainnet 2.0.

That makes it the third validator to join the network, following H Lab and CertiK — and it’s hardly a minor player: One Store lives on more than 38 million devices in Korea and stands as the nation’s second-biggest app marketplace measured by game transaction value.

In its validator capacity, One Store will deploy and maintain its own node, staking into the network’s Proof of Staked Authority set instead of merely listing the games running on top of it.

How the deal came together

The validator appointment traces back to a takeover. On June 29, Nexus picked up 20,247,990 shares of One Store — an 89.03% holding. The firm had revealed on June 18 that it intended to buy the shares from current owners, among them SK Square, Naver, Steel Number One Jeilcha and Krafton.

The purchase carries a price tag of about 62.6 billion won, roughly $45.3 million.

Nexus said it was after One Store’s proven operational history as a Korean app store, combining it with blockchain infrastructure to convert the platform into a global Web3 app store. Operating a validator is one component of that pivot from Web2 distribution toward network operation.

From app store to chain operator

One Store launched in 2016, created by South Korea’s three biggest telecom carriers — SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus — alongside Naver. It was conceived as a homegrown rival to Google and Apple.

Nexus now intends to merge its own web shop, payment and community platforms into One Store while introducing wallets, stablecoins, a decentralized exchange and staking. The company also outlined an ambition to build an “AI-native game platform” capable of analyzing and curating AI-generated games in real time.

Branding is being consolidated along the way. The mainnet currently called CROSS will take the name OneChain, and the native $CROSS token will become $ONE.

The chain One Store is securing

CROSS Mainnet 2.0 — the Breakpoint upgrade — launched on June 1 with a 21-validator Proof of Staked Authority set. The architecture links validators to staked capital and clear accountability, sustaining high throughput while exposing operators directly to their own performance.

The network has been aligning its markets around one standard unit. As of July 9 UTC, the Gametoken DEX prices and settles every pair in ONEUSD, the ecosystem dollar, with transaction fees channeled into buybacks of the network’s native token.

One Store arrived on the scene a decade ago as Korea’s counter to the two American app stores. Today it operates a node on the very chain those same games are migrating to.