Klaytn, the blockchain project led by the South Korean Internet firm Kakao, is bringing blockchain disruption to the Asian market. Its Governance Council, the consortium of trusted entities that together runs the Klaytn platform, today kicked off the inaugural gathering in Korea.
Klaytn, the blockchain project led by the South Korean Internet firm Kakao, is bringing blockchain disruption to the Asian market. Its Governance Council, the consortium of trusted entities that together runs the Klaytn platform, today kicked off the inaugural gathering in Korea.
Klaytn, whose mainnet launched in June of this year, combines the best features of both public blockchains (decentralized data and control) and private blockchains (low latency and high scalability) via an efficient hybrid design. With a mission to drive mainstream adoption of blockchain, it focuses on empowering businesses to offer readily-usable blockchain services with responsiveness and robustness on par with those based on legacy technologies, so as to remove adoption hurdles.
To that end, Klaytn is joining forces with Asia’s largest enterprises as part of its Governance Council, including LG Electronics, Netmarble, Binance, and Axiata Digital that have operated popular services and products accruing millions of global users. Undertaking the platform ownership, the Council dedicates itself to improving the platform’s transparency and trust as well as developing user-friendly blockchain services.
The inaugural gathering of this Council took place in Seoul, Korea today to kick-start the Council’s translation into Asia’s de-facto enterprise blockchain consortium.
First, Klaytn provided the Council members with the functional guidance and tools on operating consensus nodes and partaking in governance, as they are key decision makers for Klaytn’s major business and technical agenda.
The Council members then presented how they are leveraging Klaytn to grow their blockchain business and build market awareness. UnionBank of the Philippines introduced its strategic initiative towards vitalizing the blockchain market in Southeast Asia, while a China-based mobile marketing platform Yeahmobi introduced its decentralized advertising solution. WeMade, Neoply, and Gumi also showcased their blockchain game services that are set to roll out early next year.
Additionally, the Council members explored inter-company, cross-regional opportunities to together realize greater synergies for business momentum. Considering Asia’s lively blockchain market with its audience eager to embrace new technologies, the Klaytn Governance Council is expected to accelerate blockchain application development in various industry domains.
At the event, Klaytn also announced that some of Korea’s most powerful conglomerates including SK Networks, GS HomeShopping, and Hanwha Systems have joined the Governance Council. With the new firms onboard, the Council now has full 27 members.
SK Networks, a global services and trading company, is part of the larger SK Group. With subsidiaries across the globe, SK Networks’ business portfolio ranges from steel and energy trading to hotels and accommodation. GS HomeShopping, the commerce unit of GS Group, is the No. 1 multimedia retailer in Korea, operating commerce platforms across TV home shopping, e-commerce, and t-commerce. Hanwha Systems is the information technology arm of Hanwha Group, providing smart technology solutions in defense electronics and information infrastructure.
Further, Klaytn announced that its digital wallet ‘Klip,’ embedded in KakaoTalk, will be released by the first quarter of 2020. KakaoTalk messenger has over 50 million active users with 96% penetration in South Korea, and Klip is expected to usher in new strains of users different from the existing crypto-savvy audiences. Supporting Klaytn’s token KLAY and KLAY-based tokens, it will also be released as a browser extension under the name of ‘Kaikas.’ By the end of 2020, Klip will also support KLAY-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto-collectibles.
Jason Han, the CEO of Ground X, who heads the development of Klaytn said, “We are committed to offering blockchain services for a more mainstream audience, and together with the Council members, we have built an extensive and secure foundation for blockchain services to flourish. We will continue to make progress toward our vision to be the first solution to bringing blockchain experiences that flow seamlessly.”
