An NXT fractional investment consortium involving Nextrade is speeding up its push for final approval for a fractional investment over-the-counter exchange. It said uncertainty related to the licence has been removed after the Fair Trade Commission ruled there was no wrongdoing in allegations of unfair technology use and interference with business activity.

Nextrade said on Wednesday that the FTC notified it, after investigating allegations tied to preliminary approval for a beneficial certificate over-the-counter brokerage licence, that it was hard to conclude Nextrade used Lucentblock's technology or interfered with its business activities.

The FTC judged that materials provided by Lucentblock were hard to regard as technology and that it was not confirmed Nextrade used the materials. It also said it was hard to see that Nextrade had any purpose or intent to interfere with Lucentblock's business activities.

The FTC said it was difficult to recognise a causal relationship between Lucentblock's failure to obtain approval and Nextrade's actions, since Nextrade's use was not established. It decided there was no wrongdoing, saying there was insufficient basis to recognise interference with business activity under the Fair Trade Act.

Following the findings, the NXT consortium plans to speed up its final licence application and business preparations. The consortium is pursuing a market opening in the fourth quarter of 2026, in line with the plan it presented at the time of the preliminary approval.

It set the company name as the tentative "NexChange". The consortium plans to proceed without disruption with steps including approval for contributions, securing specialised personnel, building a trading system, establishing market operating rules and obtaining final approval.

The trading platform will be built based on Musicow's existing trading platform. The NXT consortium plans to provide a platform with improved trading convenience and stability and to drive market growth through innovative fractional investment products such as music products.

The NXT consortium received preliminary approval from the Financial Services Commission on Feb. 13 for an investment brokerage business in beneficial certificates that can trade various fractional investment securities such as music copyrights.

The approval conditions at the time included a provision that the final approval review would be suspended if an FTC administrative investigation formally begins into alleged technology theft under the Fair Trade Act before final approval.

Nextrade said it would respond actively to acts that cause unnecessary misunderstandings in the future, as the FTC investigation findings have cleared the technology theft allegations.

Nextrade, Shinhan Investment Corp, Musicow Invest, Blueod and others have formed a preparatory committee to establish the NXT consortium and are preparing requirements for a distribution service for fractional investment products.