The launch of Giwa, an Ethereum layer 2 on testnet, was confirmed by South Korean crypto exchange Upbit. It is focused on achieving one-second block times and optimizing user experience.
The launch of Ethereum layer-2 Giwa on testnet has been announced by South Korean crypto exchange Upbit. This move could enable the firm to expand beyond its function as a crypto exchange.
The news was confirmed by Upbit, South Korea’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, at the Upbit D Conference 2025 on Monday.
Giwa, which is short for Global Infrastructure for Web3 Access, will be leveraged by the Optimism Foundation’s OP Stack to achieve one-second block times, all while inheriting Ethereum’s security to settle transactions, according to Giwa’s documentation.
The goal of Giwa, according to the Korean-translated document, is to make Web3 infrastructure “easy and fun for everyone.”
Other exchanges that have launched their own blockchains include Coinbase, which launched Base in August 2023, and Binance, which created BNB Chain in 2019. Developers are allowed to build apps on their respective layer-2 blockchains.
A chain has also been launched or an intention to do so has been announced by Google, Stripe, and Sony Group in 2025.
While it didn’t state when a Giwa mainnet would launch, development tools are built into Giwa’s testnet, Giwa Sepolia. This enables the migration of Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible contracts, while a block explorer tracking testnet activity is already up and running.
According to the Giwa documentation, blocks will be built every second by Upbit’s blockchain to deliver near-real-time transactions.
Giwa was also designed for flexibility, enabling customization as the Optimism Foundation’s open-source tech stack continues to evolve.
A Few Weeks in the Making: The Story Behind Giwa
The development of GIWA has been in progress for at least three weeks, as is shown by its GitHub account.
Over 4 million blocks have been added to Giwa Sepolia, which suggests the chain may have launched earlier based on a one-second block time rate.
The term Giwa appears to have been derived from the curved tiles that are seen on the roofs of palaces, temples, and traditional hanok houses in South Korea. These tiles are typically made from baked clay and symbolize heritage and protection.
South Korea Emerges as a Top Crypto Market
Upbit accounts for around 73% of South Korean crypto trading and has seen the 20th largest trading volume among crypto exchanges in the last 24 hours at $2.5 billion, as is shown by CoinGecko data. Its high ranking comes despite being largely limited to the South Korean market.
According to the Chainalysis 2025 Global Adoption Index, which was released last Wednesday, South Korea posted the second-highest on-ramp crypto volume between July 2024 and June 2025, at $1 trillion. It trailed only the U.S., which had $4.2 trillion.
