Kakao Corp, a South Korean internet company established in 2014, has partnered with Ireland-based ticketing firm to build a blockchain-powered payment mechanism. Kakao provides service for KakaoTalk, a well-known South Korean messaging application. The collaboration was revealed by Fora, an Irish business magazine.
The latest collaboration contract will concentrate on integrating blockchain technology platform Klaytn, which was developed by Kakao’s tech arm Ground X, with analytics applications of Irish tech firm Festy and blockchain powered payment system.
Notably, earlier this month, Klatyn, revealed its intention to once again raise funds to the tune of $90 million through an initial coin offering.
The Medium page of Klaytn had initially revealed the partnership with Festy on March 22. Through the cooperation between both firms, in July 2019, Fora intends to deploy Festy on Klaytn blockchain based platform. On the latest contract, Graham de Barra, the founder of Festy, said that the blockchain powered platform will be fully auditable.
Graham de Barra clarified that the mechanism will focus on privacy:
“We can allow a more transparent system for these transactions, where the consumer can get remunerated for contributing towards the big data that’s being built around them. The more they enrich it, the more they can earn — or they can totally opt out.”
Fora has pointed out that the accord also includes funding of Festy. The amount invested, however, was not revealed. In the final quarter of last year, the testnet of Klaytn, which was earlier planned for release in Q1 2019, was unveiled. Following that, Kakao Corp entered into a partnership deal with Terra, a stablecoin project, which will employ Klaytn as a blockchain-powered payment mechanism.
In its 4Q 2018 report, Kakao Corp had reported that its operating expenses related to ventures involved in blockchain and AI was roughly $57.50 million.
