Giwa
Giwa (Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access) is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain built on the OP Stack by Dunamu Inc., the parent company of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.[1] Giwa uses Ethereum's ETH as the native gas token on its Layer 2, does not plan to issue a separate GIWA token, and intends to support paying fees in global stablecoins in the future through a Paymaster mechanism.[10] As of late September 2026, the project states that no GIWA mainnet has launched and that GIWA Wallet and stablecoin products remain under development.[14]
Overview
According to its official documentation, Giwa's mission is to "break down the barriers of complex and costly web3, creating a blockchain world that’s easy, fun, and accessible for everyone."[1][3] Giwa uses ETH as the base token of the Layer 2 and for transaction fees, does not plan to issue its own GIWA token, and plans to support paying gas in global stablecoins via a Paymaster function to improve usability.[10]
In May 2026, Dunamu and the Optimism Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding for Giwa Chain to be the first chain operated under the Self-Managed tier of OP Enterprise, with Upbit running the primary sequencer while Giwa remains live only on testnet.[15][16]
The project is a strategic initiative by the South Korean fintech firm Dunamu to expand its operations beyond cryptocurrency exchange services into core blockchain infrastructure.
The name "Giwa" is both an acronym for "Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access" and a reference to the traditional curved clay tiles used on the roofs of palaces and hanok houses in South Korea, symbolizing heritage, protection, and a foundational structure.[2][3]
With the launch of Giwa, Upbit joins other major cryptocurrency exchanges that have developed their own blockchains, such as Coinbase with its Base blockchain and Binance with its BNB Chain. This move is indicative of a broader industry trend where exchanges aim to build entire ecosystems around their platforms, fostering developer activity, creating new use cases, and capturing value beyond simple trading fees.[2]
History
The development of the Giwa project was first inferred from a series of events in late 2025. Prior to September, Dunamu Inc. filed several trademark applications with the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS).
These applications were for the name "GIWA" and included stylized logos, indicating a planned brand identity. [3]
On September 8, 2025, technology and cryptocurrency news outlets began reporting on the filings, connecting them to the development of a new blockchain by Upbit's parent company. These reports, citing "market news" and the discovery of the public trademark records, were the first public mention of the project.[9]
The speculation was confirmed on September 9, 2025, at the Upbit D Conference (UDC 2025) held in Seoul.
In a keynote address, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok officially announced the launch of Giwa Chain and presented a broader next-generation infrastructure roadmap.[4][2] At the time of the announcement, Giwa's testnet, named Giwa Sepolia, was already operational.
Analysis of its block explorer and GitHub account suggested that development had been underway for at least several weeks, with over 4 million blocks already added to the testnet, consistent with its one-second block time.[2]
Technology
Architecture
Giwa is an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. Layer 2 solutions are built on top of a primary blockchain (in this case, Ethereum) to improve scalability and reduce costs.
While Ethereum provides robust security and decentralization, it can have limitations such as slow transaction speeds and high gas fees, especially during periods of high network congestion. Giwa addresses this by processing transactions on its own chain and then bundling them before recording the data and results back to the Ethereum mainnet.
This optimistic rollup structure allows it to inherit Ethereum's security while operating with significantly greater speed and lower costs.[1][2] As of mid-2026, the dedicated GIWA mainnet remains under development and the public Giwa Sepolia testnet—with one-second block times and OP Stack–based infrastructure—serves as the primary network for builders and experimentation, having processed on the order of tens of millions of transactions.[16][11]
Under a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2026, Giwa Chain is planned to be the first deployment on the Self-Managed tier of the Optimism Foundation’s OP Enterprise product. In this model, Upbit operates the chain’s primary sequencer and controls core network configuration, while the Optimism Foundation provides monitoring, engineering support, and a backup sequencer that can take over if the primary sequencer fails, combining operator control with an additional layer of operational resilience.[15][16]
The blockchain is built using the OP Stack, the standardized, open-source development stack that powers Optimism and its vision for a "Superchain" of interoperable L2s. Being based on the OP Stack, which is maintained by the Optimism Foundation, allows for flexible upgrades and customization of the network as the open-source technology continues to evolve.[1][3] As of September 27, 2026, Giwa states that its mainnet is "currently under development," that official connection guides expose only Sepolia testnet RPC endpoints, and that several planned products, including GIWA Wallet and a stablecoin ecosystem, are still labeled "Coming Soon" on the project’s website.[14]
Key Features
The Giwa network is designed with several key features to enhance user and developer experience:[1]
- Fast Block Time: Giwa produces blocks every second. This rapid block production is intended to provide near real-time transaction finality, creating a smoother and more responsive user experience for applications built on the network, particularly in areas like gaming and digital finance.[2][3]
- EVM Compatibility: The network is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This is a critical feature for adoption, as it allows developers to deploy their existing Solidity smart contracts and use familiar developer tools like Foundry, Hardhat, and Remix IDE without significant modifications. This lowers the barrier to entry for developers looking to build on Giwa.[2][3]
- OP Stack-based L2: Powered by the OP Stack, which is maintained by the Optimism Foundation, enabling flexible upgrades and customization.
These features position Giwa as a platform for developing and deploying decentralized applications within the Dunamu and Upbit ecosystem.[1] As of 2026, external reporting describes Giwa as remaining on its public Sepolia testnet (Giwa Sepolia), with a roadmap targeting a private mainnet launch window between August and September 2026 while the team continues to expand developer tooling such as the GIWA Playground and bridging support.[12][13][11]
Transaction Fees
Transaction fees on the Giwa network are composed of two distinct parts to cover the costs of both Layer 2 processing and Layer 1 security.[5]
- Execution Fee: This is the cost associated with executing a transaction on the Giwa L2 network. It functions similarly to gas fees on Ethereum and is calculated as (gas used) × (gas price). The Giwa chain incorporates the EIP-1559 mechanism to enhance fee efficiency. The execution fee fluctuates based on the network congestion on Giwa (Layer 2).[5]
- Security Fee: This fee covers the cost of publishing transaction data from Giwa (Layer 2) to the Ethereum mainnet (Layer 1). This process is crucial for ensuring data availability, which allows anyone to verify the chain's state and ensures Giwa inherits the robust security of Ethereum. The security fee is dependent on the network congestion on Ethereum (Layer 1).[5]
Typically, the execution fee is higher than the security fee. This two-part structure ensures that users pay for both the computation on the faster L2 and the security provided by the L1 blockchain.[5]
Giwa Sepolia Testnet
Giwa's testnet, named Giwa Sepolia, was launched and made public alongside the project's official announcement.
A block explorer tracking testnet activity was also made available, providing transparency into network operations such as transactions, blocks, and smart contract interactions.
The testnet includes built-in development tools to facilitate the migration and deployment of EVM-compatible contracts, allowing developers to begin experimenting with the network immediately.[2]
To acquire testnet ETH for development and testing, the network provides a Proof-of-Work (PoW) faucet. This system requires users to perform computational work in their browser in exchange for testnet tokens. After entering their wallet address and mining for a sufficient duration, users can claim their rewards.
This PoW mechanism is in place to prevent malicious actors from draining the faucet's funds or accumulating enough testnet ETH to launch spam attacks. To ensure fair distribution, each wallet is limited to mining a maximum of 0.05 ETH every 24 hours.[8]
Giwa’s connection and contract documentation list only Sepolia RPC endpoints—such as sepolia-rpc.giwa.io and a Flashblocks test endpoint—for development and testing, and mark all mainnet endpoints and contracts as under development, consistent with the project’s public statements that no GIWA mainnet has yet launched as of late September 2026.[14]
Vision and Use Cases
Financial Infrastructure and Stablecoins
At the UDC 2025 conference, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok emphasized that Giwa is intended to be a blockchain that provides tangible utility for the financial sector. A central part of this strategy is the planned support for a local currency stablecoin pegged to the Korean won (KRW).[3][4]
Oh identified the proliferation of stablecoins as a core driver of a "financial paradigm shift" and an accelerator for the transition to Web3. He noted the increasing use of dollar-pegged stablecoins for remittances and payments in emerging economies as evidence of a trust movement based on real-world utility.
By supporting a KRW stablecoin, Dunamu aims to position Giwa at the forefront of this shift within South Korea, potentially enabling new applications in payments, asset management, and capital markets.[4] This initiative aligns with a broader national interest in South Korea to establish a regulatory framework for local stablecoins to enhance the nation's currency sovereignty in the digital era.[3] Giwa's roadmap further describes an ambition to become a hub for both KRW and global stablecoins in a regulatory-friendly and trustworthy environment that connects Web3 with everyday life, starting from Korea and expanding globally.[10]
In April 2026, Dunamu signed a memorandum of understanding with Hana Financial Group and POSCO International to test whether portions of cross-border remittance and trade settlement workflows, which traditionally rely on SWIFT messaging, can be migrated to GIWA Chain infrastructure. The partners outlined a 12‑month period for technical verification and pilot services linking Hana’s foreign exchange network with POSCO International’s global supply chain, with the potential for a commercial service launch in 2026 if the pilots are successful.[17][18]
Ecosystem
As part of the UDC 2025 announcement, Dunamu revealed that Giwa is one component of a larger infrastructure roadmap. The company is also developing a native wallet system for the network named Giwa Wallet to simplify user interaction with the blockchain.[3] As of late September 2026, the public site continues to list GIWA Wallet and associated stablecoin products as "Coming Soon," indicating that they had not yet entered full commercial release.[14]
This ecosystem also includes other institutional-grade services, such as the global travel rule solution 'VerifyVASP' and the institutional custody service 'Upbit Custody'.
The integration of Giwa with these services suggests a strategy to create a comprehensive, end-to-end Web3 infrastructure that caters to both retail users and institutional clients within the Upbit ecosystem.[4] In this broader ecosystem, Upbit Web3 Names (UP.ID) provide human‑readable wallet identifiers in the form of nickname.up.id, while the Onchain Verify service marks wallets that have completed KYC through authorized institutions, together extending naming convenience and on-chain identity verification across GIWA‑aligned services.[10] At Consensus 2026 in Miami, Dunamu presented additional GIWA-related components including Dojang and Bojagi, a zero‑knowledge proof–based privacy protocol designed for financial institutions to protect sensitive information in remittance and settlement workflows.[17]
To further build out its ecosystem, Giwa has introduced several key services designed to enhance trust, identity, and user experience on the network.
Dojang
Dojang is a service that issues trusted off-chain information as on-chain attestations on the Giwa network. Built on the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS), Dojang serves as a foundational trust layer for the Giwa ecosystem by linking on-chain wallet addresses with verified off-chain information. This allows users to establish an on-chain identity without directly exposing personally identifiable information through their wallets.[6]
The primary data that can be issued through Dojang is a "Verified Address," which confirms that a wallet address has undergone Know Your Customer (KYC) verification by an approved issuer. As of its launch, the sole issuer is Upbit Korea, with plans to onboard more issuers in the future. A key use case for this service is "Onchain Verify," which can be issued via the Giwa wallet to enable safer interactions with Web3 financial services.[6] While Dojang underpins these attestations, it is conceptually similar to, but distinct from, the broader Onchain Verify service used across the Upbit ecosystem to flag KYC‑verified wallets.[10]
GIWA ID
GIWA ID is a Web3 username service that simplifies wallet interactions by replacing complex hexadecimal addresses with personalized, human-readable names, such as username.giwa.id. This service is provided for free to users whose wallets have obtained a "Verified Address" attestation through the Dojang service.[7]
Technically, GIWA IDs are implemented as subdomains of the giwa.id domain registered on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). This ensures that GIWA IDs are compatible not only with the Giwa network but also with the broader Ethereum ecosystem and any dApp that integrates ENS.
GIWA IDs are designed as non-transferable Soul-Bound Tokens (SBTs), meaning a user can register only one ID per verified wallet, and it cannot be sold or transferred. This design reinforces security, as sending funds to a GIWA ID provides assurance that the recipient's wallet has been verified.[7]
The validity of a GIWA ID is directly tied to the status of the wallet's "Verified Address." If the verification becomes invalid (e.g., due to expired KYC), the GIWA ID is revoked. However, there is a 90-day grace period during which the user can re-verify their address to automatically reclaim their original GIWA ID.
After this period, if the ID remains unclaimed, the original owner can still recover it upon successful re-verification.[7] Although GIWA ID offers human‑readable wallet names similar in concept to Upbit Web3 Names (UP.ID), it remains a distinct naming service within the GIWA ecosystem, whereas UP.ID is used more broadly across the Upbit Web3 environment.[10]
Security and Fake Mainnet Incident
In late September 2026, a fraudulent network impersonating a GIWA mainnet appeared using the legitimate GIWA chain ID 9134 and infrastructure that mimicked an OP Stack-based bridge and batcher. The fake chain operated a forged cross-chain bridge that accepted deposits from Ethereum and presented itself as an official GIWA deployment.[20]
According to reports by DeFi protocol DYORSWAP, around 1,335 addresses sent approximately 767.65 ETH through the fraudulent bridge, of which about 766.25 ETH was moved out by the attackers.[19] DYORSWAP stated that it would use its treasury to compensate affected users and reported that more than 200 ETH had already been paid out while on-chain investigations into the bridge deployer, related funding sources, and subsequent fund movements were ongoing.[19]
In parallel, the GIWA team publicly reiterated that no official mainnet was live and that its documentation lists only Sepolia testnet RPC endpoints such as sepolia-rpc.giwa.io and a Flashblocks test endpoint, with all mainnet infrastructure still under development.[14] Both GIWA and DYORSWAP advised users to avoid any non-official GIWA "mainnet" RPC endpoints, bridges, or contract addresses and to rely only on connection information provided through official documentation and channels.[20][14]
