Kakao Welcomes Binance to Klaytn Council in ‘Scene-shaking’ Move

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has joined South Korean chat app giant Kakao’s Klaytn blockchain project as the newest member of its governance council.

Per a press release, Binance has become the council’s 25th partner, and will also take part in consensus node operation.

Blockchain business consultant Lee Jong-cheol told Cryptonews.com,

“This is a major coup for Kakao, and potentially Binance, too. Should Binance decide somewhere down the line that it wants to list the Klaytn network’s Klay token, it could really shake up the cryptocurrency scene in the whole East Asia region.”

Kakao has previously announced plans to list the token on Upbit’s Singaporean and Indonesian exchange branches, but a potential Binance listing would be “a game-changer,” says Lee.

The Klaytn network was launched in June this year by Kakao’s Ground X subsidiary, with council members including Unionbank of the Philippines and a host of domestic companies.

Kakao said the partnership would help the parties promote “mass blockchain adoption globally.”

Binance’s own comments in the announcement were eye-opening, too. The company made specific mention of LG, one of the biggest-name Klaytn partners on the council.

Wei Zhou, the Binance CFO, stated,

“We are excited to join the Klaytn Governance Council and to work with other key partners like LG Electronics and Kakao, who are the most innovative companies in Asia, to foster the growth of the global blockchain ecosystem in this joint and open effort.”

Readers may recall that LG is actively looking into blockchain phone technology, has registered a patent for a smartphone cryptocurrency wallet and has a business arm working with a major South Korean bank on a digital token project.

Kakao has already won the support of many of South Korea’s biggest tech companies.

Ground X recently unveiled a Klaytn-branded Samsung smartphone, and Samsung’s own smartphone wallet service has been made Klay-compatible. Hyundai’s blockchain arm, Hdac, has also begun cooperating with Ground X on Klaytn.