Upbit, South Korea’s main cryptocurrency alternate, has introduced the launch of its personal Ethereum layer-2 community, known as Giwa, on testnet. The transfer indicators the platform’s strategic enlargement past crypto buying and selling into broader Web3 infrastructure growth.
The announcement was made through the Upbit D Convention 2025 on Monday. In keeping with official documentation, Giwa — quick for International Infrastructure for Web3 Entry — is constructed utilizing the Optimism Basis’s OP Stack, permitting for one-second block occasions whereas inheriting Ethereum’s core safety for transaction settlement.
The Giwa testnet, named Giwa Sepolia, already contains built-in assist for migrating Ethereum Digital Machine (EVM)-compatible sensible contracts and includes a dwell block explorer for builders. Whereas a mainnet launch date wasn’t disclosed, GitHub knowledge suggests the challenge has been in energetic growth for a number of weeks — presumably longer — as over 4 million blocks have already been added.
Very like Coinbase’s Base or Binance’s BNB Chain, Upbit’s Giwa is positioned as a blockchain that allows app growth straight on a safe, high-speed layer-2 platform. The aim, based on its translated Korean documentation, is to make Web3 “straightforward and enjoyable for everybody.”
Giwa additionally presents flexibility via customization options made doable by the OP Stack’s open-source design, making it adaptable as Web3 requirements evolve.
The time period “Giwa” references conventional Korean roof tiles typically discovered on temples and palaces — symbolizing heritage and safety — and displays the cultural id Upbit is embedding within the challenge.
Upbit dominates the South Korean market, accounting for 73% of home crypto buying and selling and posting $2.5 billion in day by day quantity, based on CoinGecko. Globally, it ranks twentieth by quantity, regardless of serving primarily South Korean customers.
In keeping with Chainalysis’ 2025 International Crypto Adoption Index, South Korea noticed $1 trillion in crypto on-ramps from July 2024 to June 2025, second solely to the U.S., which logged $4.2 trillion. Giwa may additional entrench Upbit’s position on this surging ecosystem.
