Toss Partners with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to Validate Won-Based Digital Financial Infrastructure

Three-Month Proof of Concept: High-Performance, High-Security Chain
Combining Financial Transaction Control with Privacy Protection
Exploring the Potential for Institutional Financial Solutions

Toss has partnered with global Layer 2 (L2) blockchain Optimism and privacy solution developer Sunnyside Labs to validate next-generation won-based digital financial infrastructure. Layer 2 is a blockchain scaling technology that leverages Ethereum’s security and settlement capabilities while enabling faster and more cost-effective transactions.

On July 8, Toss announced that it has signed a strategic business agreement with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to explore the development of a stablecoin linked to the Korean won. Over the next three months, the three companies will conduct a proof of concept (PoC) to assess whether Optimism’s core technology, the “OP Stack,” can be applied to Korea’s blockchain-based digital financial infrastructure.

The PoC will focus on three key validation points: whether financial institutions can directly control payment and settlement processes, whether know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements can be technically implemented, and whether individual transaction information can be securely protected even on a public network. These criteria were proposed by Toss to meet the strict regulatory and security standards of the institutional financial sector. The three companies will use the OP Stack and the privacy technology “Privacy Boost” to conduct the validation.

During the validation process, Optimism will provide the blockchain-based infrastructure, while Sunnyside Labs, the official core developer for Optimism, will be responsible for the privacy technology.

Privacy Boost, developed by Sunnyside Labs, is an institutional solution that addresses the inherent weaknesses of blockchain. Since all transaction histories and balances are transparently disclosed on the blockchain, it has been difficult to apply directly to financial services. Privacy Boost securely conceals critical information from external view, while still allowing financial institutions to access necessary transaction records. This means customer information can be protected at the same level as in traditional finance, even on a public network. Additionally, it is capable of reliably processing large-scale transactions, making it suitable for servicing many customers simultaneously.

Optimism is one of the world’s leading Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystems. Its core technology, the OP Stack, inherits Ethereum’s robust security while supporting fast, low-cost transactions and allows companies to build their own dedicated chains rather than relying solely on general-purpose infrastructure. Currently, more than 30 global enterprise chains and major exchanges, including Sony, World, Uniswap, OKX, and Kraken, operate on the OP Stack.

Optimism also offers this technology as an institutionally managed product tailored to the regulatory and security requirements of each company. As a result, adoption by global regulated financial institutions, such as Bitpanda in Europe, is spreading.

Toss expects that this collaboration will be the starting point for validating next-generation financial infrastructure. The goal is to directly design dedicated infrastructure optimized for currency and services, built on Ethereum-grade trust and security, and to freely connect it with other chains. Currently, Toss has secured 30 million subscribers and over 500,000 on- and offline payment infrastructure locations. The company plans to gradually expand its experiment of integrating blockchain infrastructure on top of its payment and platform assets.

Kyle Jenke, Chief Business Officer (CBO) of Optimism, said, “We will demonstrate the performance and privacy standards of OP Stack tailored to Toss’s sophisticated technical requirements. We are excited to partner with one of the most trusted names in the market.”

Gyuha Kim, CBO of Toss, commented, “For Web3 technology to be successfully integrated into institutional finance, strict regulatory compliance and strong privacy protection are essential. By leveraging the proven OP Stack from Optimism, we will verify the possibility of building a compliance-based digital financial infrastructure that is optimized for and highly trusted in the Korean market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.