50 Million-user Chat App KakaoTalk Launches Crypto Wallet Today

Source: Klaytn

South Korea’s Kakao Group, the operator of the KakaoTalk chat app, says that its long-awaited crypto wallet Klip debuts today – in theory providing most of the country with immediate access to cryptoassets.

KakaoTalk claims to have around 45 million monthly active users in South Korea (87% of the country’s total population), with up to 5 million living overseas. The wallet, named Klip, will be available as a tab in the KakaoTalk interface – which already has e-banking and e-pay tabs.

South Korean media outlets have claimed that the wallet will allow KakaoTalk users to opt-in to Klip, whereby they will be able to “store and exchange various digital assets.”

Some believe that the wallet will allow users to send and receive tokens – possibly creating millions of new crypto users.

It is not clear whether this will be a full-blown crypto exchange platform, or which tokens it will handle, although Kakao is almost certain to list its Klay token – the native coin of its Klatyn blockchain network.

Per Yonhap, an official from Kakao’s blockchain subsidiary GroundX confirmed, that the Klip crypto walet will be released today.

Meanwhile, yesterday, in a tweet, Klaytn stated that an “official announcement” was forthcoming, and that Klip would allow customers to “experience digital assets.”

One of Kakao’s biggest rivals is the search engine giant Naver, the founder of the Line chat app. Although Line has made very few inroads in the domestic market, it has been a roaring success in Japan – where it has launched its own licensed crypto exchange and wallet service, Bitmax, which is also linked to its chat app.