Upbit, South Korea's largest exchange, announced the launch of its Ethereum Layer 2 network, GIWA, built on Optimism’s OP Stack. This initiative aims to strengthen Upbit's position in the evolving global financial infrastructure landscape. CEO Oh Kyung-seok highlighted the importance of being competitive in the financial sector as digital assets evolve, noting that the Korean market has been sidelined in blockchain advancements. GIWA will support developers in building blockchain solutions and entering the Web3 space, with a phased decentralization roadmap. While GIWA's public testnet aims for rapid block transaction times, concerns about centralization remain, given the single sequencer model at launch. Regulatory scrutiny around crypto lending and trading further complicates the environment, but Upbit seeks to innovate and leverage its user base and liquidity to drive growth amidst declining domestic volumes and increasing competition.

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