Optimism Expands into Korea with Major Financial Partnerships
Optimism, the leading company in Ethereum-based Layer 2 financial infrastructure, is expanding into the Korean market. Kyle Jenkey, Chief Business Officer of Optimism, met with Maeil Business Newspaper and confirmed that they will enter the Korean market through partnerships with domestic financial institutions.
Ongoing negotiations between Optimism and over 30 large financial companies, including Mirae Asset Securities, Shinhan Investment & Securities, KB Securities, and Kiwoom Securities, aim to establish a foothold in the market. Jenkey emphasized that the willingness of Korean financial institutions to adopt blockchain technology is impressive.
Optimism has already signed partnerships with Dunamu, operator of Upbit, Toss, a leading fintech platform, and DB Securities. These collaborations lay the groundwork for entering the blockchain infrastructure market in Korea.
Jenkey explained that Optimism's open-source blockchain technology, OP Stack, allows transactions to be processed at a lower cost than Ethereum Mainnet. As of April this year, Optimism had supplied OP Stack to the Ethereum ecosystem and processed 14.3 million cases, or about 13% of global virtual asset transactions.
In addition to its business expansion in Korea, Optimism plans to establish a local branch, with an initial team of three personnel, including developers and business development managers. The company aims to strengthen customer support and engineering capabilities in the region.