Getting to Know Klaytn, Kakao's Blockchain

Hello, this is Bitpunk. Today we're going to take a look at Klaytn, the blockchain project Kakao has been preparing. First, Klaytn is being developed by Ground X, a subsidiary of Kakao. As for its goal, you could say it's to scale up beyond existing blockchains and achieve mainstream adoption.

Klaytn Mainnet Launch

Kakao's Klaytn mainnet was launched on the 27th. According to Ground X, Klaytn is focused on boosting network speed to improve user satisfaction. As we saw back with CryptoKitties on Ethereum, existing second-generation blockchains struggled with even a small amount of traffic. Third-generation blockchains like EOS are currently achieving fairly high TPS, but Kakao says it has cut block generation and confirmation time down to 1 second so that users can experience the speed of a regular web service.

Klaytn Block Generation and Services

Generating blocks requires consensus. Klaytn plans to handle this through consensus nodes run mainly by service providers, and to ensure transparency by letting anyone verify the results through public Ranger nodes. Along with improving speed, which has been a limitation of existing blockchains, it also plans to offer easy sign-up. For example, you'll reportedly be able to use services with your KakaoTalk ID, which means users will face a barrier to entry no higher than when using existing services.

Klaytn Knights

Have you heard of EOS Knights? It was a mobile/web game built on EOS. Now Klaytn Knights has been released on the Klaytn platform. Lee Je-bin, CEO of Klaytn Knights, expressed his expectations, saying that on EOS you had to 'buy EOS coins, create an account, and connect Scatter,' whereas Klaytn can be used just like an existing service.

For reference, Klaytn Knights is 'a game where Kleo (knight), Anna (mage), and Luke (archer) fight off goblins invading the village.' Just think of it as an idle game. Along the way there are features like forging and pets that tempt you to spend real money.

Klaytn, Its Partners, and KakaoTalk

Klaytn currently has 34 DApp partners and 9 KLAY BApp partners. For reference, BApp partners are partners that use KLAY, rather than their own tokens, for rewards and payments. Users can earn KLAY in one BApp and spend it in other BApps as well.

Also, as you may know, the main reason so many people have high hopes for Klaytn is its parent company, Kakao. Kakao is a messenger platform with more than 50 million users. There's talk that a Klaytn wallet could be integrated into KakaoTalk, and if that happens, cryptocurrency could be exchanged the same way people use Kakao Pay today. That said, we'll have to wait and see whether Klaytn can grow beyond Korea into a DApp platform like Ethereum or EOS.

Kakao Klaytn in One Line

A fast, mainstream blockchain platform built by Kakao subsidiary Klaytn X is on its way.

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