Kakao's Ground X Unveils Its Blockchain Platform 'Klaytn'

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ground X, the blockchain subsidiary of the leading South Korean mobile platform, Kakao, led by CEO Jason Han, has announced to open the testnet version of Klaytn to its partners along with the position paper highlighting Klaytn's technical architecture and direction on the official homepage.

Focus on improving UX (User eXperience) / DX (Developer eXperience) environment and conveying the value of blockchain technology

Klaytn UX seeks to improve the inconvenient UX of existing blockchain platforms by allowing average end-users to experience blockchain technology in the most seamless way. The easy Klaytn UX eliminates the traditional inconveniences including wallets, private keys, and cryptograph addresses in order to lower the barriers to blockchain technology for normal end-users.

The distinct characteristic of Klaytn is the enhanced speed and performance of the dApps (decentralized Applications) to be made readily available for mass users. The block interval, which would take an hour for Bitcoin and several minutes for Ethereum, has been shortened to less than 1 second with up to 1,500 TPS (Transaction Per Second). Klaytn also separates CNs (Consensus Nodes) and RNs (Ranger Nodes) to divide roles to efficiently perform consensus and block replication. CNs, which are comprised of service providers, are accountable for works requiring high responsibility and consensus while RNs are responsible for downloading newly created blocks that do not require consensus.

To provide a friendly developer environment, Klaytn features tutorials and toolkits necessary for blockchain-based service development. The toolkits include Klaytn Wallet, which allows users to safely guard and transfer their tokens created on Klaytn, Klaytnscope, which allows users to monitor all activities on Klaytn including block creation and transaction, and BLASQ, the incentivized blockchain co-work community where users' blockchain-related questions and answers are rewarded with tokens.

Ground X plans to continue to foster BLASQ as a blockchain community service where developers can collaborate and operate a healthy Klaytn ecosystem. Ground X will also enhance Klaytn Wallet and Klaytnscope so that all of the operating services and data are made transparent to the users for fair competition in the market. In addition, Ground X will further improve the existing services and continue featuring new toolkits that can efficiently utilize blockchain technology for new services.

Ground X seeks to advance the platform so that the companies providing dApps for mass users can use Klaytn to transact data in a safe and transparent way, as well as extract and refine important data to operate services.

Service providers and developers can register on Klaytn homepage to use Klaytn Testnet -- the Mainnet will launch in the 1Q of next year

The name Klaytn is derived from Ground X's mission to serve as a 'playground,' upon which blockchain developers can research and communicate freely. With this in mind, Klaytn combines words 'clay' and 'stone,' which are the main components of ground. Klaytn's tokens are called Klay, and the first Klaytn testnet is called Aspen, which is derived from the Aspen trees. The upcoming versions will all be based on tree names.

Klaytn testnet is currently open to approximately 10 partners in Korea and around the world, consisting of leading firms from various industries including entertainment, gaming, healthcare, social media, digital advertisement, video streaming, web comics/novels and finance. For those service providers and developers interested in using Klaytn Testnet can sign up on the official Klaytn homepage at https://klaytn.com, and the selection will be made after the initial screening.

Ground X plans to run a Klaytn testnet operation to partners and selected providers only at this time. It will later share its source code to the public, while the Klaytn Mainnet will launch in the 1Q of next year.

According to Jason Han, the CEO of Ground X, "The popularization of blockchain requires providing a practical blockchain service for mass adoption thereby validating the value and utility of blockchain technology." He added that, "In order to achieve this, we have designed Klaytn that can provide an easy and friendly environment for end-users, service providers, and developers all at the same time, and we will successively feature most advanced services with our partners."

Klaytn plans to hold its very first meetup for San Francisco and Silicon Valley-based developers and service providers on October 10^th in San Francisco, California during San Francisco Blockchain Week. At this meetup, the Klaytn testnet will be showcased. To register for this free meetup, visit https://helloklaytnsf.eventbrite.com.

Ground X is currently looking for candidates interested in developing the blockchain ecosystem together. Applications are to be submitted via Klaytn homepage for positions in platform development, service development, business areas, etc.

https://klaytn.com
https://medium.com/klaytn

About Klaytn
Klaytn is a service-centric blockchain platform providing an easy development environment and friendly end-user experience. It is built upon solid reliability and significant stability with substantial service development for mass adoption. The platform allows real world applications of large scale to be produced right away so that our end-users can make full use of services without much expertise in blockchain or cryptocurrency. Klaytn seeks to convey the value and potential of blockchain technology to people. 

About Ground X
Ground X is the blockchain subsidiary of the leading South Korean Internet company, Kakao. Ground X believes in the potential of blockchain technology to be applicable for the real world. At the moment, blockchain technology lacks tangible services compared to its grand potential, which maintains as a big obstacle for the technology to grow into an established industry. In response, Ground X seeks to address these issues by providing a scalable blockchain platform along with meaningful decentralized applications with the scale of Kakao, thereby becoming the global leader in the blockchain industry.

SOURCE Klaytn

Related Links

https://klaytn.com