Upbit Launches GIWA Chain on Optimism's Self-Managed Tier

South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit has partnered with Optimism to build GIWA Chain, a new Ethereum Layer 2 using the OP tech stack, according to an announcement on Monday. GIWA Chain is the first chain to launch on the Self-Managed tier of OP Enterprise, meaning Upbit will run the chain itself while the Optimism Foundation provides tech support.

Partnership and Self-Managed Infrastructure

Optimism has become the go-to solution for institutions looking to launch a dedicated blockchain, having served centralized and decentralized exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap, crypto projects like World and Zora, and multinational conglomerate Sony.

The Self-Managed tier represents a new operational model for OP Enterprise. Unlike fully managed chains where the Optimism Foundation runs the chain’s primary sequencer, controls configuration, and holds operational authority, the Self-Managed tier allows operators to maintain control. “Self-Managed is built for operators who can’t cede operational control. For a regulated exchange serving Korean and global institutional users, giving up sequencer control over Upbit’s chain was never going to be acceptable,” Optimism wrote in a blog.

A sequencer is a core component of a rollup that sequences how transactions are added into a block. In addition to determining what transactions are included or denied—which may matter for compliance reasons—it is also a revenue generator by capturing the fees users generate.

Upbit’s Market Position and Infrastructure Needs

Upbit claims to serve upwards of 13 million registered users and has ranked as high as No. 2 globally by cumulative spot trading volume, according to CoinGecko. “At that size, the math stops working for renting someone else’s infrastructure,” Optimism noted.

Jing Wang, Optimism Foundation director, commented on the arrangement: “What we hear consistently from the largest exchanges and institutional operators is that they want to own the chain their users transact on, not rent it.”

Memorandum of Understanding and Support Structure

The firms signed a memorandum of understanding for Optimism to provide a “safety net” for Upbit, consisting of institutional-grade backup including monitoring, a failover sequencer, priority patches, and guidance. “Taking on the full weight of chain resilience alone, running the single instance of sequencer infrastructure that millions of users depend on, is a burden few single-operator chains can credibly sustain,” Optimism’s blog stated.

Testnet Status and Broader OP Stack Context

According to the announcement, GIWA Chain is currently live on testnet.

It is worth noting that many chains launched using the OP Stack, like Base, Ink, and Unichain, have always used sequencers controlled by the chain operator rather than Optimism. Many of the OP Stack chains are part of the so-called Superchain, where independent networks share interoperability, infrastructure, and governance features, and pay a small percentage of their sequencer revenue to the Optimism Collective, but remain operationally distinct.

Earlier this year, Base, the blockchain initially built by Coinbase using the OP Stack, announced it would migrate to its own unified in-house stack.