Giwa
Giwa (Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access) is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain built on the OP Stack by Dunamu Inc., the parent company of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.[1] The project was officially announced on September 9, 2025, at the Upbit D Conference (UDC) 2025, where the company unveiled its testnet and outlined its vision for expanding into core financial infrastructure.[2] [3] The project's existence was first reported earlier in September 2025, based on trademark filings and market news, prior to the official launch event. [5]
Overview
According to its official documentation, Giwa's mission is to "break down the barriers of complex and costly web3, creating a blockchain world that’s easy, fun, and accessible for everyone."[1] [3] The project is a strategic initiative by the South Korean fintech firm Dunamu to expand its operations beyond cryptocurrency exchange services into core blockchain infrastructure. The name "Giwa" is both an acronym for "Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access" and a reference to the traditional curved clay tiles used on the roofs of palaces and hanok houses in South Korea, symbolizing heritage, protection, and a foundational structure.[2] [3]
With the launch of Giwa, Upbit joins other major cryptocurrency exchanges that have developed their own blockchains, such as Coinbase with its Base blockchain and Binance with its BNB Chain. This move is indicative of a broader industry trend where exchanges aim to build entire ecosystems around their platforms, fostering developer activity, creating new use cases, and capturing value beyond simple trading fees.[2]
History
The development of the Giwa project was first inferred from a series of events in late 2025. Prior to September, Dunamu Inc. filed several trademark applications with the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS). These applications were for the name "GIWA" and included stylized logos, indicating a planned brand identity. [3]
On September 8, 2025, technology and cryptocurrency news outlets began reporting on the filings, connecting them to the development of a new blockchain by Upbit's parent company. These reports, citing "market news" and the discovery of the public trademark records, were the first public mention of the project. [4]
The speculation was confirmed on September 9, 2025, at the Upbit D Conference (UDC 2025) held in Seoul. In a keynote address, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok officially announced the launch of Giwa Chain and presented a broader next-generation infrastructure roadmap.[4] [2] At the time of the announcement, Giwa's testnet, named Giwa Sepolia, was already operational. Analysis of its block explorer and GitHub account suggested that development had been underway for at least several weeks, with over 4 million blocks already added to the testnet, consistent with its one-second block time.[2]
Technology
Architecture
Giwa is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. Layer 2 solutions are built on top of a primary blockchain (in this case, Ethereum) to improve scalability and reduce costs. While Ethereum provides robust security and decentralization, it can have limitations such as slow transaction speeds and high gas fees, especially during periods of high network congestion. Giwa addresses this by processing transactions on its own chain and then bundling them before recording the data and results back to the Ethereum mainnet. This optimistic rollup structure allows it to inherit Ethereum's security while operating with significantly greater speed and lower costs.[1] [2]
The blockchain is built using the OP Stack, the standardized, open-source development stack that powers Optimism and its vision for a "Superchain" of interoperable L2s. Being based on the OP Stack, which is maintained by the Optimism Foundation, allows for flexible upgrades and customization of the network as the open-source technology continues to evolve.[1] [3]
Key Features
The Giwa network is designed with several key features to enhance user and developer experience: [1]
- Fast Block Time: Giwa produces blocks every second. This rapid block production is intended to provide near real-time transaction finality, creating a smoother and more responsive user experience for applications built on the network, particularly in areas like gaming and digital finance.[2] [3]
- EVM Compatibility: The network is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This is a critical feature for adoption, as it allows developers to deploy their existing Solidity smart contracts and use familiar developer tools like Foundry, Hardhat, and Remix IDE without significant modifications. This lowers the barrier to entry for developers looking to build on Giwa.[2] [3]
- OP Stack-based L2: Powered by the OP Stack, which is maintained by the Optimism Foundation, enabling flexible upgrades and customization.
These features position Giwa as a platform for developing and deploying decentralized applications within the Dunamu and Upbit ecosystem. [1]
Transaction Fees
Transaction fees on the Giwa network are composed of two distinct parts to cover the costs of both Layer 2 processing and Layer 1 security.[5]
- Execution Fee: This is the cost associated with executing a transaction on the Giwa L2 network. It functions similarly to gas fees on Ethereum and is calculated as (gas used) × (gas price). The Giwa chain incorporates the EIP-1559 mechanism to enhance fee efficiency. The execution fee fluctuates based on the network congestion on Giwa (Layer 2).[5]
- Security Fee: This fee covers the cost of publishing transaction data from Giwa (Layer 2) to the Ethereum mainnet (Layer 1). This process is crucial for ensuring data availability, which allows anyone to verify the chain's state and ensures Giwa inherits the robust security of Ethereum. The security fee is dependent on the network congestion on Ethereum (Layer 1).[5]
Typically, the execution fee is higher than the security fee. This two-part structure ensures that users pay for both the computation on the faster L2 and the security provided by the L1 blockchain.[5]
Giwa Sepolia Testnet
Giwa's testnet, named Giwa Sepolia, was launched and made public alongside the project's official announcement. A block explorer tracking testnet activity was also made available, providing transparency into network operations such as transactions, blocks, and smart contract interactions. The testnet includes built-in development tools to facilitate the migration and deployment of EVM-compatible contracts, allowing developers to begin experimenting with the network immediately.[2]
To acquire testnet ETH for development and testing, the network provides a Proof-of-Work (PoW) faucet. This system requires users to perform computational work in their browser in exchange for testnet tokens. After entering their wallet address and mining for a sufficient duration, users can claim their rewards. This PoW mechanism is in place to prevent malicious actors from draining the faucet's funds or accumulating enough testnet ETH to launch spam attacks. To ensure fair distribution, each wallet is limited to mining a maximum of 0.05 ETH every 24 hours.[8]
Vision and Use Cases
Financial Infrastructure and Stablecoins
At the UDC 2025 conference, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok emphasized that Giwa is intended to be a blockchain that provides tangible utility for the financial sector. A central part of this strategy is the planned support for a local currency stablecoin pegged to the Korean won (KRW).[3] [4]
Oh identified the proliferation of stablecoins as a core driver of a "financial paradigm shift" and an accelerator for the transition to Web3. He noted the increasing use of dollar-pegged stablecoins for remittances and payments in emerging economies as evidence of a trust movement based on real-world utility. By supporting a KRW stablecoin, Dunamu aims to position Giwa at the forefront of this shift within South Korea, potentially enabling new applications in payments, asset management, and capital markets.[4] This initiative aligns with a broader national interest in South Korea to establish a regulatory framework for local stablecoins to enhance the nation's currency sovereignty in the digital era.[3]
Ecosystem
As part of the UDC 2025 announcement, Dunamu revealed that Giwa is one component of a larger infrastructure roadmap. The company is also developing a native wallet system for the network named Giwa Wallet to simplify user interaction with the blockchain.[3] This ecosystem also includes other institutional-grade services, such as the global travel rule solution 'VerifyVASP' and the institutional custody service 'Upbit Custody'. The integration of Giwa with these services suggests a strategy to create a comprehensive, end-to-end Web3 infrastructure that caters to both retail users and institutional clients within the Upbit ecosystem.[4]
To further build out its ecosystem, Giwa has introduced several key services designed to enhance trust, identity, and user experience on the network.
Dojang
Dojang is a service that issues trusted off-chain information as on-chain attestations on the Giwa network. Built on the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS), Dojang serves as a foundational trust layer for the Giwa ecosystem by linking on-chain wallet addresses with verified off-chain information. This allows users to establish an on-chain identity without directly exposing personally identifiable information through their wallets.[6]
The primary data that can be issued through Dojang is a "Verified Address," which confirms that a wallet address has undergone Know Your Customer (KYC) verification by an approved issuer. As of its launch, the sole issuer is Upbit Korea, with plans to onboard more issuers in the future. A key use case for this service is "Onchain Verify," which can be issued via the Giwa wallet to enable safer interactions with Web3 financial services.[6]
GIWA ID
GIWA ID is a Web3 username service that simplifies wallet interactions by replacing complex hexadecimal addresses with personalized, human-readable names, such as username.giwa.id. This service is provided for free to users whose wallets have obtained a "Verified Address" attestation through the Dojang service.[7]
Technically, GIWA IDs are implemented as subdomains of the giwa.id domain registered on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). This ensures that GIWA IDs are compatible not only with the Giwa network but also with the broader Ethereum ecosystem and any dApp that integrates ENS. GIWA IDs are designed as non-transferable Soul-Bound Tokens (SBTs), meaning a user can register only one ID per verified wallet, and it cannot be sold or transferred. This design reinforces security, as sending funds to a GIWA ID provides assurance that the recipient's wallet has been verified.[7]
The validity of a GIWA ID is directly tied to the status of the wallet's "Verified Address." If the verification becomes invalid (e.g., due to expired KYC), the GIWA ID is revoked. However, there is a 90-day grace period during which the user can re-verify their address to automatically reclaim their original GIWA ID. After this period, if the ID remains unclaimed, the original owner can still recover it upon successful re-verification.[7]
Key Entities
Dunamu Inc.
Dunamu Inc. is a major South Korean financial technology company and the entity that filed the "GIWA" trademarks. It is best known as the parent company and operator of Upbit, the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange. The development of Giwa represents a significant strategic pivot for Dunamu, moving from facilitating the trade of existing digital assets to creating the foundational technology for new ones and expanding its role in the global financial infrastructure landscape.[4] [3]
Upbit
Upbit is South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and is operated by Dunamu. Despite being largely confined to the South Korean market, it is one of the world's largest centralized exchanges, processing billions of dollars in daily trading volume.[2] [3] While the Giwa project is technically under Dunamu, it is intrinsically linked to Upbit due to their corporate relationship. The Giwa chain could potentially integrate with Upbit's exchange services, providing a native platform for new token listings, dApp development within the Upbit ecosystem, and other synergistic functionalities. [3] [4]