Upbit’s Parent Company Launches New Ethereum Layer 2 Called Giwa
Dunamu, the company behind crypto exchange Upbit, has announced the launch of its own Ethereum Layer 2 network called Giwa.
The name Giwa stands for “Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access” and also refers to the traditional clay roof tiles found on Korean buildings.
According to its website, Giwa Chain is designed to make Web3 easier and more accessible for everyone. It uses Optimism’s OP Stack technology and offers very fast transactions, with a block time of just one second. Since Giwa is built using Solidity, the same language as Ethereum, developers can easily build apps on it with the tools they already know.
Currently, Giwa is still in the testnet stage, but Dunamu is preparing to launch the mainnet soon. The company also plans to introduce a native wallet called Giwa Wallet.
At the Upbit D Conference (UDC) 2025, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok said Giwa will focus on financial use cases and support a Korean won stablecoin. This aligns with South Korea’s government initiative to develop local stablecoins as part of its effort to strengthen currency sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Upbit remains one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, even though it mainly serves Korean users. In the past 24 hours alone, Upbit handled about $2.25 billion in transactions, according to CoinMarketCap.
