Food
Nine companies have agreed to develop apps for Kakao’s new Klaytn blockchain system. The public platform was developed by Ground X, Kakao’s blockchain subsidiary. It was offered on Oct. 8 on a test basis, or testnet. Kakao, Korea’s largest messenger app company, announced the introduction on Monday.
The companies building the apps are from a wide range of industries from gaming to health care. They are planning to use Klaytn for the development and operation of dApps, or decentralized applications.
Service operators are attracted to dApps because of their decentralized nature, transparency and ability to incentivize users through in-app rewards.
Wemade Tree, a subsidiary of game developer Wemade Entertainment, is one of the Klatyn partners. Wemade said it wants to use blockchain because it allows for smooth and speedy operations. Wemade’s games, including its popular Legend of Mir massively multiplayer online role-playing games (Mmorpg) series, have over 200 million accumulated users.
Piction Network, which helps web comic and novel creators retain ownership over their works while making them available for users, has also partnered with Klaytn. Piction Network plans to provide its Klaytn-powered network to webtoon platform Battle Comics, which currently has over a million active users.
A blockchain-based food data project called Hint Chain, operated by Vital Hint, has also announced a plan to utilize Klaytn. Vital Hint first gained popularity for providing recipe recommendations through apps like Foodiest. Hint Chain goes one step further and analyzes individual tastes and eating habits. Hint Chain plans to use Klaytn to help consumers manage their eating and purchasing habits, and make this information available to restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets and hospitals.
Other notable industry partners include Nabu Studio, a sports simulation game developer, Airbloc, a data marketplace for businesses interested in gathering personal information for research and advertising, and Humanscape, a data marketplace specifically dealing with health information related to rare and incurable illnesses.
Cosmochain, another partner, is a beauty information platform that incentivizes users to provide feedback on cosmetics products.
VETTA is a crowdfunding platform for games selected by GTR, a game accelerator. Rayon connects borrowers and lenders.
“It’s important to prove the value and utility of blockchain in order for the technology to commercialize,” said Han Jae-sun, chief executive of Ground X. “We will soon gradually begin presenting high-quality services that we worked on together with partners.”
After the selected partners complete a test run, Klaytn plans to launch in the first quarter of 2019. Until the official release, Klaytn will continue forming new partnerships with qualified companies.
“Service providers and developers interested in using Klaytn’s testnet can still register on the official Klaytn homepage,” said a Kakao spokesperson.
