Klaytn is a public blockchain platform that was officially launched in June 2019. It is a dominant player in South Korea's blockchain space, focusing on the metaverse, gamefi, and the creator economy. Klaytn is now expanding globally from its international base in Singapore, backed by the Klaytn Growth Fund, which aims to enhance the ecosystem built on Klaytn.
Klaytn was developed and launched by GroundX, the blockchain subsidiary of Kakao, Korea's largest mobile platform. After two successful years in Korea, the Klaytn Foundation was established to spearhead Klaytn's global expansion. The Klaytn Foundation, a non-profit organization, works alongside Krust, a subsidiary of internet giant Kakao Corp, to invest in projects built on Klaytn and manage the Klaytn Growth Fund.
KLAY is the native digital asset that fuels and secures the Klaytn protocol. At its launch, Klaytn issued 10 billion KLAY, with 2.6 billion KLAY coins currently in circulation. Each new block mints 9.6 KLAY. The block reward, which includes the newly issued KLAY and the sum of transaction fees used in the block, is distributed to three destination accounts in a predetermined ratio: 34% to the Klaytn Governance Council Reward, 54% to the Klaytn Growth Fund (KGF), and 12% to the Klaytn Improvement Reserve (KIR).
KLAY is available for trading on several major exchanges, including Binance, Bithumb, and KuCoin, among others. These platforms offer cryptocurrency and stablecoin pairs for trading.
Klaytn is primarily used in the metaverse, gamefi, and the creator economy. It offers an end-to-end metaverse developer package, 1-second deterministic finality, and data guarantee. Klaytn also supports Ethereum equivalence, making its technical stack equivalent to the Ethereum stack from an interfacing and execution perspective. This allows Klaytn to inherit any improvements made to Ethereum's open-source codebases and enables Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) and Klaytn Improvement Proposals (KIPs) to contribute to both ecosystems.
Klaytn has set aside a total of $1 billion to support ecosystem growth through a combination of the initially issued reserve KLAY and on-chain tokenomics that re-invest 66% of newly-minted KLAY. The funds are distributed across a range of grant and reward programs such as the Klaytn Improvement Reserve (KIR) for infrastructure, tools, and services that improve the quality of the Klaytn network, the Klaytn Growth Fund (KGF) for early-stage projects with high potential for creating a positive impact on Klaytn, and the Proof of Contribution (PoC) program to reward builders of smart contracts that contribute to the growth of on-chain activities on Klaytn.
In recent Klaytn news, the platform has been making strides in forming strategic partnerships. Hex Trust, an Asia-based crypto-asset custodian, has partnered with the Klaytn Foundation to provide custody services for KLAY. In addition, D’CENT Wallet has improved its user interface and added Klaytn-EVM for OpenSea connection. The platform also announced an integration with token management provider VTVL to automate token vesting and distribution.
Klaytn has been busy enhancing its product offerings. The platform has released Canonical WKLAY, a standard interface for using Wrapped Klay in dApps. This is aimed at streamlining user experience and reducing friction when moving KLAY between DApps. Klaytn also launched its DeFi KLEX in Mainnet, enabling traders to swap assets and farm yield. In addition, the platform has completed integration with Witnet, a decentralized network of oracle nodes, to allow smart contracts to access off-chain data.
On the governance front, Swapscanner has joined the Klaytn Governance Council. The platform also proposed a block reward reduction to achieve an optimal and sustainable Klaytn ecosystem. Klaytn Foundation has also been actively supporting quality projects in the Klaytn ecosystem through grants, with a total of 13,713,799 KLAY paid out to KGF grantees in 3Q 2022.
Despite not discussing the Klaytn price today, it's worth noting that KLAY has been listed for margin trading and savings on OKX. This development could potentially influence where to buy Klaytn. In addition, Klaytn is looking to expand into international markets, with Africa being a potential target due to its high cryptocurrency adoption rate.