Blockchain Platform Competition

New blockchain platforms that address the weak points of the existing ones have appeared one after another.

The competitive landscape of blockchain platforms is now reorganizing as new platforms under development by South Korea’s major information technology (IT) companies are expected to start commercial services soon.

In the past, the completely-open blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum and EOS, attracted attention but there were problems related to speed or expandability. Accordingly, new platforms that address such drawbacks have surfaced one after another.

According to related industry sources on Dec. 2, leading firms’ blockchain platforms which have already secured millions of subscribers through pilot services are expected to become the global leading platforms when they start to offer commercial services.
 

The blockchain projects which have recently received the most attention are “Klaytn” of South Korea’s messaging giant Kakao Corp. and “Link” of LINE Corp., a Japanese subsidiary of South Korea’s internet search giant Naver. Kakao and LINE have common ground in that they both have grown through mobile messaging apps. They are also the companies specialized in the content sector, including game, webtoon and video clip.

Klaytn and Link all provide a vision of blockchain platform for real-life services. This is because Ethereum and EOS platforms are failing to produce popular services that more than tens of thousands of people can enjoy. For Ethereum, the number of the No. 1 blockchain service dApps users comes to 200 to 300 a day. For EOS, the form of the gambling blockchain service is popular but the number of users is still only 2,000 to 3,000.

Dunamu Inc. has challenged Klaytn and Link. The South Korean fintech company is the one that operates Upbit, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the nation. Dunamu also runs a technology research center called “Lambda 256” which is developing its blockchain platform “Luniverse.” Luniverse helps businesses easily make use of blockchain technologies according to their needs in the same form of Amazon Web Services (AWS). Its merit is that it can offer specialized chains by industry. For instance, it can provide gaming specialized chains and logistics specialized chains. Developers can make best use of chains that fit for their own purposes.

As there is a three-way race between Klaytn, Link and Luniverse among domestic firms, Orbs is the foreign blockchain platform that comes into the spotlight. Orbs is a platform under development by Orbs Inc., a tech subsidiary of Israel’s largest blockchain firm Hexa Labs Ltd.

Orbs has established a partnership with South Korea’s major conglomerates, attracting attention from the domestic blockchain industry. The company has firmed a cooperative relationship with Kakao's blockchain subsidiary Ground X Corp. and is currently collaborating with Samsung SDS Co. It is also discussing measures to cooperate with the blockchain-based payment system project “Terra” led by Shin Hyun-sung, chairman of the board of directors of TMON Inc. and Yes24 Co., one of the largest online bookstore in the nation. In addition, Orbs recently participated in the nation’s blockchain conference “BUIDL 2018.”

Other companies are also scrambling to develop blockchain services, such as “Cosmos,” which has announced to launch its platform in the near future, “ICON,” one of the nation’s biggest blockchain projects which is now in partnership with LINE, BOScoin, which has launched Mainnet, and Glosfer Co.’s Hycon which has developed Nowon District's local currency.

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