Dunamu, Inc.,
a South Korean fintech
startup and the operator of crypto-asset exchange Upbit, has announced the launch
of Luniverse, a consortium-based blockchain service platform.
Lambda256, Dunamu’s research arm, was responsible for the
development of Luniverse and will be spun off as a subsidiary, Dunamu said on
Tuesday. Jae-hyun Park, formerly Lambda256’s head of research, will be the inaugural
CEO of the new company.
At a press conference held in Seoul, Park detailed the
company’s mission to accelerate the commercialization of blockchain services
and stressed Lambda256’s ambition to become a leading blockchain platform.
“We hope to inject new energy into the blockchain developer community
through the official launch of Luniverse and power more innovations,” Park
said. “Our goal is to become the industry’s top blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS)
platform by 2020.”
Park told the Investor
in an interview in November 2018 that blockchain was at a critical juncture
adding that the next year or two will be key for the technology. “[Blockchain]
has potential to become the next big thing like the Internet, or could fail to
become mainstream,” Park said.
In this critical time, Lambda256 has vowed to make blockchain
mainstream through the Luniverse platform, which allows firms to develop their
own blockchain-based decentralized applications (dapps).
“Lambda256’s vision is to become a blockchain enabler,” Park
said.
“We want to help businesses that need the technology by
providing high-quality infrastructure at a reasonable price … so that
businesses can focus on providing services for their customers, instead of
having to struggle with technical details.”
The Luniverse BaaS platform aims to address the limitations
of existing infrastructures and promises partners looking to adopt blockchain
technology into their businesses a “versatile and effective solution.”
Luniverse partners get access to side chain solutions that
offer improved performance and greater stability, with notable features that include
development tools, proxy mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted service, easy
account control, user data backup and management support, security assessment for
smart contracts, data privacy features, and auto-scaling systems to meet
traffic demands.
Park said Luniverse’s key differentiator was its
controllability. “When firms use existing blockchain platforms, they are bound
by the platform’s features and timeline. Which means, they can’t change the key
features of the platform or improve their services on their own timetable,”
Park said. “But Luniverse helps firm create their own mainnet. It gives freedom
and sole control of the platform to the firm to decide features and their
blueprint.”
The solution is also affordable as it is provided in a
pay-as-you-go structure with zero gas fees, he added.
The Luniverse ecosystem will include several marketplaces to
facilitate and encourage the development and use of dapps.
A B2B marketplace for developer solutions and a B2C
marketplaces for dapps are scheduled to launch in the second half of 2019.
These will serve as direct channels for partners to monetize blockchain
solutions and services, the company said.
Lambda256 will issued a token called LUK, which will be used
in the Luniverse ecosystem for various transactions notably in the marketplaces
as well as in Luniverse-linked programs and services.
The company will also be allocating some of its LUK funds into
several initiatives aimed at supporting the growth of the ecosystem. These
include the Luniverse Incubation Program, which will back blockchain
development projects from startups, and the Luniverse Invest Program, which
will support promising dapp developers.
Luniverse’s beta service opened in September 2018 with 35
partners and had recruited more than 70 total partners into the beta program by
November.
Key partners including E4Net, KStarLive, Humanscape, Aha, Ziktalk,
Storichain and Mossland are set to launch Luniverse-developed blockchain
platforms and services within the next month.
Lambda256, under the Dunamu umbrella, plans to strengthen
synergies with its affiliates including cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, and investment
arm Dunamu & Partners, which has
committed to invest up to US$93 million in blockchain startups over a
three-year period.
Dunamu expanded
its Upbit platform to Southeast Asia last year, establishing a new office in
Singapore in February. Lambda256 will be seeking to tap into the region as well
with expansion plans likely to be undertaken in the second half of 2019.