South Korean Crypto Exchange Upbit announced the launch of the Ethereum Layer-2 Giwa in Testnet-a step that would see it expanded its role as a crypto exchange.
UPBIT – South Korean’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume – confirmed The news at Upbit D Conference 2025 on Monday.
Giwa (short for global infrastructure for access to web3) will use the optimism foundation OP stack to achieve one second block time while inheriting Ethereum security to resolve transactions, According to In Giwa’s documentation.
Giwa’s purpose is to make the web3 infrastructure “easy and fun for everyone,” it said in the document that Korea transferred.
Other exchanges that launched their own blockchains included Coinbase, launched Based on August 2023 and Binance’s BNB chain, created in 2019. Both developers are allowed to build apps in their respective Layer-2 blockchains.
Google, Stripe and Sony Group also launched a chain or announced a plan to do so in 2025.
While it was not said when a Giwa Mainnet would be launched, development tools were built on the Testnet of Giwa-Giwa Sepolia-Enabling transfer of contracts compatible with virtual machine, while a block explorer Tracking Testnet activity is already standing and running.
According to the Giwa documentation, the Upbit blockchain will build blocks every second to deliver transactions near real-time.
Giwa is designed for flexibility, enabling customization as the Optimism Foundation’s The open-source tech stack is constantly changing.
Giwa is in the works for at least a few weeks
Giwa’s development is in works for at least three weeks, its github account Shut up.
However, with more than 4 million blocks added to Giwa Sepolia, a second -time block rate suggests that the chain may have been launched earlier.
The word Giwa appears to be derived from the curved tiles seen on the roofs of palaces, temples, and traditional Hanok houses in South Korea that are usually made of baked clay and symbolizing heritage and protection.
South Korea became the leading crypto market in 2025
Upbit account for around 73% of South Korea Crypto Trading and saw the –20 largest trading volume in crypto exchanges in the last 24 hours at $ 2.5 billion, coingecko Data Shut up. Its high rank came despite being mainly confined to the South Korean market.
Related: South Korean crypto lending rates by 20%, leveraged loans forbidden
The Chainalysis 2025 Global Adoption Index, Published on Wednesday, South Korea showed the second largest on-ramp of crypto between July 2024 and June 2025 at $ 1 trillion-just boarding the US just $ 4.2 trillion.
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