Korea’s IT company Kakao will launch its blockchain platform “Klaytn” Thursday. Also, there are expectations that a cryptocurrency wallet will be loaded onto KakaoTalk.

An official familiar with Klaytn’s BApp project said, “We heard the news that KakaoTalk would embrace a cryptocurrency wallet. But the wallet will make its debut after an interval of time following the release of the mainnet.” An official with another BApp partner said, “Allegedly 9 cryptocurrencies will be reflected in KakaoTalk’s initial wallet.” Yet an official with Ground X developing Klaytn said, “We cannot reveal the initial number of cryptocurrencies because we are contemplating the loading of cryptocurrencies in our wallet.”

When will Klaytn’s new BApp partners be disclosed?

Ground X revealed 34 application partners to be loaded onto its Klaytn platform on 4 separate occasions. Ground X uses the word BApp instead of DApp. This is intended to emphasize its commitment to supporting blockchain-powered apps that could be commercialized rather than decentralization.

The projects revealed in the first and second rounds of partner disclosure were mostly reverse ICOs (initial coin offerings) that grafted blockchain technology onto existing services. They included beauty app service provider Cosmochain, insurance technology startup Zikto’s Insureum and content recommendation app Watcha’s Contents Protocol. The partners revealed in the third and fourth rounds were not reverse ICOs. But most of them were services that could be commercialized actually. An official with a partner company selected in the fourth round said, “Ground X began to form partnerships with projects that have generated certain results and can show commercialized services as soon as possible.”

So the disclosure of next round of partners is drawing attention. An official at Ground X said, “We have no plan to reveal partners additionally before the release of the mainnet.” Asked if there would be some BApps to launch Klaytn-based services in time for the release of the mainnet, he said, “It would be possible for such projects as Cosmochain and Contents Protocol that have already released their own BApp services to commercialize services at once.” “The schedule for the release of each service will vary according to the development situation of each project,” the official added. /hyun@decenter.kr

사동석 기자

sahds@dcenter.kr