Upbit Launches GIWA Chain on Optimism Layer 2 with Self-Managed Control

South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit has partnered with Optimism Foundation to build a new Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain called GIWA Chain using the OP Stack, according to an announcement on Monday. Upbit will operate the chain itself while the Optimism Foundation provides technical support. This marks the first chain to launch on the Self-Managed tier of OP Enterprise, a new operational model designed for institutions that require full control over their blockchain infrastructure.

Self-Managed Tier and Operational Control

The Self-Managed tier differs from Optimism’s “fully managed” model, where the Optimism Foundation runs the chain’s primary sequencer, controls configuration, and holds operational authority. Under the Self-Managed approach, Upbit retains control of the sequencer—the core component that sequences how transactions are added into blocks. The sequencer determines which transactions are included or denied (relevant for compliance) and captures transaction fees as a revenue generator.

“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 its blog announcement.

Jing Wang, Optimism Foundation director, stated: “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.”

Upbit’s Scale and Infrastructure Rationale

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

Optimism has previously served centralized and decentralized exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, and Uniswap, as well as crypto projects like World and Zora, and multinational conglomerate Sony in their blockchain infrastructure efforts.

Support Structure and Current Status

Upbit and Optimism signed a memorandum of understanding for Optimism to provide a “safety net” comprising institutional-grade backup services. These services include monitoring, a failover sequencer, priority patches, and guidance. As Optimism explained: “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.”

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

Broader OP Stack Ecosystem Context

While the Self-Managed tier appears to be new, many chains launched using the OP Stack—including Base, Ink, and Unichain—have already used sequencers controlled by chain operators rather than Optimism. Many OP Stack chains participate in the “Superchain,” where independent networks share interoperability, infrastructure, and governance features while maintaining operational independence and paying a small percentage of sequencer revenue to the Optimism Collective.

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.