South Korea leads the world in blockchain adoption
A report from CCN states that South Korea has “become one of the world’s most well-established blockchain and cryptocurrency pioneers in recent years,” adding, “the forward-thinking nation has set a unique standard for the world to observe and follow.”
The country is now the third largest in the world for bitcoin trades and some of the biggest crypto exchanges are based in South Korea. The sponsored post on CCN also states, “Cryptocurrency demand is so high in fact, that it was reported that virtual currencies in South Korea are traded at a 30% premium compared to other nations.”
It also poses a conundrum for retailers. There are many South Koreans who want to spend their cryptocurrency, but retailers don’t have the facilities to accommodate the transactions. HUPAYXX, a South Korean firm, has built a real-time payments platform that solves the problem.
Thanks to a partnership with KIS Information Communications, the firm’s products are operating at 42,000 location in the capital Seoul. These range from duty-free shops to tourist shopping districts.
It hopes to partner with over one million stores by the end of the year, and its has rolled out a beta version of the HUPAY Wallet and merchant POS, known as the HPOS app. This is available for download at the Google Play Store. It will be available for iOS in November of this year.
Its partnership with LG U+ has helped HUPAYXX enormously. This has enabled the company to have its point of sale (POS) system secured and distributed via the LG U+ network, and to tap into the LG user base of around 15 million members across South Korea.
In addition, the HUPAYX team is setting up to launch blockchain-based digital currency businesses, with various local governments backing it.
