Optimism Asia-Pacific corporate strategy: How Sony, Upbit and Toss bet on OP Stack

Asia-Pacific companies are moving from "whether blockchain is feasible" to "how to integrate into core businesses"

Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are no longer obsessed with whether blockchain technology is feasible, but are beginning to think about how to integrate it into core businesses. From Mitsui Digital Commodities 'release of Zipangcoin on the OP main website, to Sony's Block Solutions Laboratory's launch of Soneium, to Upbit operator Dunamu's plan to launch GIWA Chain, a wave of mature consumer and financial platforms are being built based on OP Stack. Juntaro Iwase, managing director of OP Labs Japan and Southeast Asia, was interviewed to discuss the factors driving this shift, how OP Enterprise responds to regulatory and operational needs, and why the biggest advantage in the Asia-Pacific region lies in "distribution" rather than mere technology.

1. Compared with Europe and the United States, what are the differences in blockchain adoption by Asia-Pacific companies?

The most obvious difference is attitude. Many Asia-Pacific companies no longer ask "Is blockchain feasible" but rather "Where should it be placed in our core business?" Recent examples are enough to illustrate: Mitsui Digital Commodities launched Zipangcoin on the OP Mainnet; Sony's Block Solutions Laboratory built Soneium for consumers and creators;Upbit operator Dunamu plans to use OP Stack to build GIWA Chain; and Toss announced a project to explore a proof-of-concept based on Korean Won stablecoins. Europe and the United States are also advancing, such as Kraken's Ink and Bitpanda's Vision Chain. The Asia-Pacific region is characterized by its huge consumer platforms, digitally literate users, and companies with distribution capabilities that can bring products on the chain to millions of customers who already trust them.

2. Why are Optimism and other Ethereum L2 solutions becoming increasingly popular among Asia-Pacific companies?

Companies don't choose Ethereum L2 just for scalability. They evaluate the complete solution, including infrastructure, operating models, ecosystems, and whether the tools needed to integrate the business. These needs vary from company to company. Toss is running a proof-of-concept on OP Stack while integrating KYC/AML infrastructure and privacy enhancements from Sunnyside Labs. GIWA Chain plans to use OP Enterprise's self-management layer so that Upbit can retain control of sorters and configurations while gaining engineering support and backup elasticity. Mitsui Digital Commodities launched Zipangcoin on its main website, saying it will help it reach global investors. The common denominator is the right to choose. Companies can build on existing public networks or deploy dedicated infrastructure, and either way, can work with compliance, hosting, monitoring and privacy providers that are right for their business.

3. What regulatory compliance and privacy needs do entities in the Asia-Pacific region face when moving on-chain?

Regulated agencies will first ask questions about accountability, data visibility, operational control, and how blockchain fits into existing systems. Public blockchains are transparent by default. If financial products require transaction details or customer balances to be confidential, an additional layer of privacy may be needed. Institutions may also require KYC, AML, transaction monitoring, custody, rights management and reporting tools. Blockchain infrastructure providers will not replace these functions and will not determine whether a product is compliant. Our role is to provide reliable infrastructure, clear operating models, and the technology integration points needed to collaborate with professional providers. Toss's proof-of-concept demonstrated this layered approach: OP Stack provides blockchain infrastructure, Sunnyside Labs provides privacy enhancements, and separate KYC and AML infrastructures support compliance requirements. Each layer is the responsibility of the party best suited to handle it.

4. What role does OP Enterprise play in promoting enterprise-level blockchain adoption in the Asia-Pacific region?

The most difficult part of enterprise blockchain adoption is often not the launch of technology, but the establishment of an operating model that can support critical businesses. Organizations need to know who runs the infrastructure, who responds when problems go wrong, how upgrades are managed, and how networks adapt to their internal security and procurement processes. OP Enterprise is designed around these operational requirements. Companies can choose to operate their infrastructure through a fully managed model or through a self-managed model with direct engineering support. They can also start on the OP main network and decide whether a dedicated chain is needed. Organizations can choose operational responsibilities and control levels that suit their capabilities and adjust them as they develop.

5. How can the launch of Optimism and Soneium benefit creators and consumer apps in Asia?

Soneium demonstrates how blockchain supports the consumer experience without requiring users to understand the underlying technology. Built on OP Stack by Sony Block Solutions Lab, Sonium provides developers with an Ethereum-compatible foundation for entertainment, gaming, creator and community applications. Sony describes its goal as allowing blockchain to run quietly in the background while enabling trust, traceability, digital ownership, and clearer attribution of creative work. For creators and fans alike, this enables new ways of engaging and collaborating, and OP Stack provides the scalable infrastructure behind these experiences. This idea of putting technology in the background and experience in the foreground is exactly how consumer adoption happens in the region.

6. What does Upbit's plan to develop GIWA Chain through OP Stack mean for the future of exchange-grade infrastructure?

Upbit's decision to develop GIWA Chain reflects a broad shift in the way large exchanges think about infrastructure. They increasingly want to have the infrastructure through which users can access products along the chain. Dedicated chains can provide greater control over performance, trading policies, user experience, product development, and the economic effects of ecosystems. Based on Dunamu's collaboration with the Optimism Foundation program, GIWA Chain will become the first chain in OP Enterprise's self-managed hierarchy. Upbit will retain control of the main sorter and configuration, while Optimism provides monitoring, engineering support and backup elasticity.

7. Compared with the global market, what are the opportunities and challenges for enterprise-level blockchain adoption in the Asia-Pacific region?

The biggest advantage in the Asia-Pacific region is distribution capabilities. Sony, Upbit, Toss and Mitsui Digital Commodities already have mature brands, customers and business relationships, and they don't need to build audiences from scratch. The challenge is to transform blockchain infrastructure into a reliable and sustainable business. Regulations vary in markets such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Companies must also integrate blockchain with existing systems and work with appropriate custody, identity, surveillance, privacy and mobility providers. In my experience, local system integrators and trusted supplier relationships also play an important role in markets such as Japan. While technology is important, the credibility of local operations often determines whether a project can be put into production.

8. How will the built-in interoperability of the OP chain promote the development of Asia-Pacific companies?

Native interoperability is still under development. Currently, OP chains rely on existing bridging and messaging solutions for cross-network connectivity. The long-term goal is to make participation in the OP chain more like a connected ecosystem, with assets and information more easily moving between them, allowing companies to operate dedicated infrastructure without creating a completely isolated network. This is particularly valuable in the Asia-Pacific region, where products are often launched first to the domestic market and may later seek international users, applications and mobility.

9. How does OP Stack ensure resilience and scalability for large-scale institutional workloads?

OP Stack was originally designed to meet the performance, reliability and flexibility companies need when blockchain enters the production stage. Its modular architecture allows organizations to tailor their infrastructure to their own operating needs while continuing to benefit from Ethereum's security and continued innovation. The evidence is in production. There are currently more than 50 chains running on OP Stack, including networks built by Sony, Uniswap, OKX and Kraken. Instead of building and maintaining blockchain from scratch, companies can deploy large-scale proven infrastructure that reduces technical complexity while supporting high transaction volume and long-term growth.

10. How does Optimism respond to the regulatory requirements of compliant financial institutions operating in Asia?

Each regulated agency faces different legal and operational requirements that vary widely across jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region. OP Enterprise does not impose a single deployment model, but rather gives organizations the flexibility to configure infrastructure based on their own needs, including how the chain operates, who controls the sorters, and which compliance, hosting and privacy providers to integrate. This flexibility allows agencies to meet their regulatory obligations within their respective jurisdictions, while benefiting from the security and innovation of the Ethereum ecosystem. Compliance decisions are still made by the agency and its advisers, while infrastructure supports multiple deployment and integration needs.

11. How does OP Enterprise's fully self-managed hierarchy shape corporate blockchain strategies in the Asia-Pacific region?

The self-regulatory hierarchy reflects the consistent demand of large financial institutions: they want the ability to control their blockchain infrastructure, but are unwilling to shoulder the burden of building everything from scratch. For regulated agencies, the attraction lies in programmable financial infrastructure, which combines operational sovereignty, direct control and dedicated engineering support. Organizations decide for themselves how infrastructure is operated, protected, and integrated with existing systems, while leveraging proven underlying technologies. For many Asia-Pacific institutions, this combination has finally moved blockchain from innovation laboratories to infrastructure roadmaps.

12. What role does the Asia-Pacific region play in accelerating the global expansion of Optimism Networks?

The Asia-Pacific region has become one of the most powerful examples of how blockchain has evolved into enterprise infrastructure. Activity in the finance, payments, consumer technology and entertainment sectors shows that adoption is no longer limited to cryptocurrency native companies. In the region, many organizations are deploying or exploring OP Stack, OP Mainnet, and OP Enterprise, which are helping to define enterprise adoption models on a global scale. Over the next 12 months, I expect board questions in the Asia-Pacific region to shift from "Should we pilot this?" to "Which product should we launch?" Companies with the distribution capabilities, regulatory discipline and the right infrastructure partners will be best placed to answer this question.