Kakao’s Klaytn has ambitions to become the world’s biggest public blockchain consortium, said Kakao CEO Yeo Min-soo, Thursday, at the first Klaytn Governance Council Summit held in Seoul.

“Currently, Klaytn’s expansion is centered in Asia, but it will gradually spread, in the end becoming the best global blockchain platform. To that end, we will not spare any investment and implore the Governance Council members to actively join in on the growth of our ecosystem,” said Yeo, during the event held at Moss Studio in Nonhyeon-dong, emphasizing that Klaytn is not just Kakao’s, but of all of the members, and will continue to decentralize.

Since launching five months ago in June 27, Klaytn is now notching a daily transaction volume around 700,000, similar to that of Ethereum, which launched more than four years ago in July 2015.

Klaytn is developed by Ground X, a blockchain affiliate of Kakao that launched last year. Klaytn has been operating stably for five months without a stop or error, according to Ground X CEO Han Jae-sun, who also emphasized its lead in the market.

“Facebook’s Libra launched last month with aims to recruit 100 partners. Libra is taking a similar approach to ours, but it has yet to experience the milestones we have crossed,” said Han, “Next year, Klaytn will become Asia’s biggest blockchain consortium.”

Klaytn currently has 27 firms in its Governance Council, the combined value of which amounts to 70 trillion won ($59 billion). The council is the decision-making body for the Klaytn ecosystem.

By now, half of Korea’s major firms have adopted Klaytn, including SK networks, GS Home Shopping and Hanwha Systems. Existing members are LG Electronics and Celltrion, as well as game companies Netmarble, WeMade and Pearl Abyss. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, is also a member, as are the Union Bank of the Philippines and China’s Wanxiang Blockchain Labs’ Hong Kong strategic partner Hashkey.

The council also discusses ways to adjoin the blockchain technology to conventional businesses.

In addition to operating Klaytn, Kakao has plans to launch a digital wallet called Klip in early 2020 through which users can trade Kakao’s cryptocurrency Klay. Klip is to be added in the drop-down list in KakaoTalk, the most widely used mobile messenger in Korea.

“Based on our 40 million user pool, we are putting our best efforts for a soft landing for the mass adoption of Klip,” Kakao CEO Yeo said.

The Klaytn Governance Council Summit was attended by some 80 people from the global companies who adopted the Klaytn blockchain technology.

On Friday, TXGX 2019 (Tech Forum by Ground X) will take place at Moss Studio, where developers are invited to learn more about the Klaytn technology.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)