Learning Klaytn — Kakao’s digital asset wallet service — ‘Klip’
A lot has been written about Kakao’s digital asset wallet service ‘Klip’, though we feel like much of the information circulating is either incomplete or just vaguely describes the scope of the service. Now, as the official launch and release of Klip is approaching fast (Ground X expects to ship it this June), we thought it would be a good idea to dedicate one of our ‘Learning Klaytn’ installments specifically to Klip as to clear up the subject, familiarize our reader with the application, and have a go-to resource whenever community members ask about it.
So without further ado…
So what is this thing called ‘Klip’?
Ground X recently released its English media kit with updated information on their recent achievements and roadmap ahead. Let’s start by providing you their definition of Klip.
Klip, embedded in the KakaoTalk messenger, will provide a new experience of digital asset management. Klip allows users to easily manage a variety of digital assets and by doing so, it signifcantly lowers the barrier of inconvenient usability. Klip will trigger the mass adoption of blockchain services by offering a wide spectrum of user-centric blockchain applications that can be enjoyed through KakaoTalk.
So, in short, Klip is a digital wallet application developed by Ground X, that safeguards one’s digital assets, including Klaytn’s token KLAY along with Klaytn compatible tokens (KCT) such as HINT, CRE, COSM, and many more.
Aside from KCT, Klip will also support more digital assets including so-called Non Fungible Tokens (NFT), more widely known as Crypto Collectibles. Items acquired in Klay-based blockchain games will be created as NFTs and will be able to be stored in Klip or exchanged with other users at the touch of a button. Users will be able to transfer digital assets to their contacts in KakaoTalk in real-time, as is the case with Kakao Pay.
KakaoPay is Kakao’s payment service, launched back in 2014. The service is integrated in Kakao’s messaging app KakaoTalk and allows users to request and send money to their contacts. The service became so popular that it managed to reach 10 million users in the first two years since launch.
Aside from storing and exchanging digital assets, users will be able to browse and interact with various Klaytn-powered BApps.
Kakao aims to boost the adoption of blockchain technology by letting its 50 million KakaoTalk users organically interact with Klaytn-based services through Klip. In August of 2019, Ground X released a sneak peek of the wallet application, describing its many features.
I hear it’s safe, fast and easy
Sustained through Klaytn’s technological arsenal, Klip is equipped with high security and performance, which allows safe, seamless and fast transfer of user’s digital assets.
Klip is constructed with a user-friendly experience in mind. Once you access Klip with your social network profile, i.e. your KakaoTalk ID, you can send and receive digital assets with your Kakao friends. Furthermore, you do not have to go through the hassle of writing down and storing your cryptic private key.
Klaytn’s own unique account system allows you to access the wallet with a simple passcode while allowing you to still manage your own private key.
Klaytn’s account model allows user to update his/her account’s private key as it decouples account’s address and private key. In some blockchains (e.g., Bitcoin and Ethereum), the account’s address is derived from a public key, which is again determined by a private key. These relations are fixed, thus if your private key is exposed, you have to create a new account. However, in Klaytn, you don’t always have to abandon your address and create new one. Instead you can change the private key of your Klaytn account while keeping the account’s address. Source
I can manage my digital assets in one place! Great!
Hold your horses! What are these so-called digital assets, and why should I care?
Digital assets are not just the traces of data that we leave in the online world. We leave digital products (goods) through our actions such as a login ID, game items, pictures, videos, blog posting, and comments. These digital assets are defined as such through the value they hold when transferring them. Most users’ digital assets are all over the place and most of the time stored in large data silo’s owned by major tech players. Klip gives back control and ownership to the user.
My information and digital assets are finally safe
Digital assets I have accumulated via my personal services (e.g. loyalty points, discounts, etc.) might be used without my knowledge. Luckily I don’t have to worry anymore as my digital assets are now
safely stored with blockchain technology.
How does Klip differ from Kaikas?
Kaikas is a browser extension wallet for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. Much like Ethereum’s Metamask, Kaikas provides more experienced users a secure and usable gateway to interact with Klaytn via web browser. Users can store and transact KLAY and Klaytn-based tokens, as well as sign requests from web-based Klaytn BApps in real-time. Read more about Klaytn’s Kaikas in this Medium Story by the Ground X team.
Klip, on the other hand, is aimed at introducing new users to blockchain-based services. It will support not only Kakao’s KLAY token but also related KRC-20 tokens and blockchain apps, or dapps. Among those will be a method of logging into social media sites. Kakao aims to make the wallet app “widely used in everyday life, with KLAY tokens directly available in KakaoTalk via the Klip wallet.
Got it! Where do I download Klip?
As of now, Klip isn't live yet. Though people can check a teaser of the service this web page and also directly in their KakaoTalk account; Visit your KakaoTalk, click ‘More’, click ‘Services’, and you will quickly discover click among the listed services!
As Klaytn’s updated English media kit indicates, the Ground X team plans to release Klip in the first half of 2020. The latest reports that surfaced, seem to indicate a launch in June.
Jaesun Han, CEO at Ground X, recently indicated in an interview that his team is well on track for release in June. He expects 2020 to be the first year of blockchain mass adoption. As he put it, the integration of Klip with KakaoTalk could definitely serve as a key-catalyst for user onboarding and adoption. Though, if one wants Klip to achieve adoption, then the user perspective must also change. The plan in place is to first focus on having users recognize the concept of digital assets and the management thereof. Later on, additional strategies will be implemented as to entice new users to go and try out Klip.
I also read about ‘KAS’, what is it and how does it relate to Klip?
KAS (Klaytn API Service) is a blockchain API service that considerably lowers the hurdle for blockchain service development. It is similar to Infura for Ethereum and will be released in the first half of 2020. With KAS, you can use Klaytn without running your own Endpoint Node.
Ground X’s TXGX event in 2019 dedicated an entire session for the development progress on KAS. We definitely recommend the interested reader to check out the full slide show
The road to mass adoption
As a final comment, we’d like to touch upon Ground X’s mission of building the infrastructure and base protocols of the Next Internet for the future generation — and how Klip will play a key part in this journey.
As Jaesun Han (Ground X’s CEO) put it in a recent interview; “Our vision on the Next Internet means we aim to build a new internet through blockchain technology. Though I want to stress that it is not a replacement for the Internet — it is a concept of adding layers. The idea is to put a trust layer on the Internet to improve anonymity concerns and add a value transfer layer to create a new form of the Internet that enables digital asset management.”
As mentioned earlier in the article, Klip embodies three of the key layers that form essential services for the Next Internet;
- DID (Decentralized Identity) provides a trust layer
- The digital asset management service adds a value transfer layer
- The data sovereignty service adds a data privacy layer. Users will be able to fully exercise their data ownership.
These layers clearly play a major part in the overall design and functionality of Klip, hence making it a perfect tool for mainstream adoption!
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