Justin Kim, Head of Asia at Avalanche, sat down with BeInCrypto ahead of his appearance at the Hong Kong Consensus 2025.
Avalanche’s recent achievements in Asia have been notable – it became one of only four cryptocurrencies approved for trading by Hong Kong authorities, alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Chainlink. The platform has established significant partnerships across the region, from financial institutions in Singapore to gaming companies in Korea and Japan. In this interview, Kim discusses Avalanche’s unique architecture enabling purpose-built blockchains and shares insights into various enterprise implementations across Asia.
Avalanche has achieved numerous successful implementations across Asia. What’s the secret behind this success?
The key is our unique architecture that enables purpose-built blockchains. Unlike traditional blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum, which operate on a single shared network, Avalanche allows companies to create their own dedicated chains. This solves two major challenges: scalability and regulatory compliance. Companies can control who validates their network and where data is stored, making it particularly attractive to enterprises concerned about privacy and regulatory requirements. We have a pipeline of over 100 blockchain projects, and while the technical setup takes just 5-10 minutes, we spend 6 months to a year consulting with each client to optimize their blockchain.
The Alipay-Grab partnership in Singapore appears to be a significant milestone. Could you explain this project and what challenges Avalanche helped overcome?
Since November 2023, Alipay and Grab have been using their dedicated Avalanche blockchain for cross-border payments in Singapore. For example, Korean visitors can use KakaoPay at Grab-affiliated stores, with transactions processed through stablecoins instead of traditional banking channels. The key challenge was data privacy regulations, which we solved by allowing them to create a Singapore-only validated blockchain. This MAS-approved system eliminates banking intermediaries and their fees.
Both Alipay and Grab have a presence in multiple countries, yet they chose Singapore for this implementation. Why Singapore, and are there other significant financial projects there?
Singapore, particularly the Monetary Authority of Singapore(MAS), actively supports blockchain innovation. Besides approving the Alipay-Grab payment system, they’ve endorsed several major projects. JP Morgan is using their dedicated Avalanche chain to tokenize non-listed assets like VC shares and real estate, while Citibank implemented a blockchain-based FX trading system to improve transparency and reduce broker dependency. Singapore is positioning itself as Asia’s premier financial hub alongside Hong Kong, and their regulatory openness makes it an ideal testbed for blockchain innovation.
Could these successful Singapore implementations with JP Morgan and Citibank be replicated in the US market?
With JP Morgan and Citibank successfully implementing their blockchain solutions in Singapore, they could potentially advocate for similar projects in the US. Until recently, such innovations were challenging due to the US regulatory environment. However, with the changing landscape and our existing government project with California DMV, we expect to see increased interest from US financial institutions using Singapore as a successful test case.
Avalanche also has gaming partnerships like Nexon’s MapleStory in Korea and Konami in Japan. What makes the gaming sector particularly successful for Avalanche?
Gaming and finance are the two sectors where blockchain can provide the most value. In gaming, “Off The Grid” demonstrates this perfectly – they reached 13 million concurrent users across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC within three months using their dedicated Avalanche chain. Traditional single-network blockchains couldn’t handle this scale of users or cross-platform integration. They even topped the Epic Games Store in their first week, surpassing games like Fortnite, showing the potential of purpose-built gaming blockchains.
Off the Grid is a blockchain game built on Avalanche.
Suntory, one of Japan’s oldest alcoholic beverage companies, adopted a unique implementation of Avalanche’s blockchain technology. Could you introduce the case?
Suntory implemented NFC chips on their premium whiskey bottles that interact with blockchain in two stages. When customers first scan an unopened bottle, it generates an NFT confirming authenticity and ownership. When the seal is broken and scanned again, it creates a “tasting NFT” recording consumption. This helps track their premium whiskeys’ global distribution – for instance, if bottles sold in Tokyo are being opened in Paris, suggesting market demand. It’s transforming their data collection and marketing strategy.
What is Avalanche’s strategic vision for 2025, particularly in Asia?
The trend of purpose-built blockchains is growing significantly across Asia. We’re seeing strong interest from financial institutions, gaming companies, and enterprises wanting to create their own dedicated chains. In Korea, we’re working with major payment companies to expand our cross-border payment solutions. We’re also strengthening our presence in Hong Kong’s financial sector with several partnerships under discussion. At the upcoming Hong Kong Consensus, we’ll be showcasing successful implementations across various sectors.
