“Although cryptocurrencies are dealt for investment purpose, they are not actually used for daily lives. Our goal is to create a system where cryptocurrencies are actually used within cryptocurrency markets and where new values are circulated.”
This is the reason why CTO Kim Tae-hyung of KStarLive developed cryptocurrency called ‘KStarCoin’ based on Korean wave.
KStarCoin, which was released last month, is cryptocurrency based on Ethereum ERC20. Many global fans can easily purchase Korean wave contents through KStarCoin and earn profits by creating and distributing their own contents related to Korean wave within KStarLive’s community.
CTO Kim mostly focused on creating a service that can be easily used by anyone. Current cryptocurrencies are complicated as they require separate learning process to actually use them. It is also impossible to restore them once a person loses a password or has his or her account severely damaged.
On the other hand, anyone who is able to watch videos and look for information on internet can easily use KStarCoin. Also it is created based on a technical foundation that allows one to restore KStarCoin if he or she loses a password or faces malicious acts on his or her account.
“While there is no way to correct one’s action if he or she trades other cryptocurrencies on mistake, it is possible to restore KStarCoin even if there is a significant issue.” said CTO Kim. “KStarCoin’s technical difference is its ability to minimize any inconvenience for users from a service standpoint.”

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<CTO Kim Tae-hyung of KStarLive>

KStarCoin is cryptocurrency that is used by global fans who love K-pops and K-dramas within communities.
They can attract concerts of their favorite K-pop artists to their respective countries through Cloud funding and they can also purchase concert tickets and South Korean cosmetics.
CTO Kim, who had overseen development of KStarCoin, is so-called ‘full-spec’ developer who has experiences in every areas such as websites, mobile apps, servers, and blockchain. He created a numerical analysis software company called ‘Cemware’ in 2009 along with Professor Kwon Wook-hyun of Seoul National University, who is the best expert in electrical engineering field in South Korea, and he had also participated in development of mobile applications such as Naver Green Factory and Golf Zone Scorecard. Before joining KStarLive, he had worked as the CTO and CSO of an influencer marketing platform called ‘Adpick’, which made $9.4 million (10 billion KRW) in sales in 2016.
Convenience is not the only thing that he had focused on white developing KStarCoin. He also applied his philosophy of compensating those who create traffic.
“Traffic power is considered money on internet and it is currently monopolized by platforms.” said CTO Kim. “Within KStarLive’s community, users who create traffic earn KStarCoins.”
Not only one can receive KStarCoin through exchanges and P2P (Peer to Peer) transactions, but one can also receive it as compensation for his or her activities within KStarLive’s community. For example, TWICE fan can receive KStarCoin by leaving reviews on programs where TWICE made appearances to or their albums or making fan fictions that have a member of TWICE as a main character or emoticons. People can also receive KStarCoin by simply buying or recommending Korean wave contents. KStarCoin can be used to support or purchase products of people who make appealing contents.

Through KStarCoin, global Korean wave fans can consume South Korean contents more easily and more conveniently. They can also send birthday gifts or food trucks to K-pop artists who they like.
“KStarCoinn will grow into global cryptocurrency that can be actually used and compensate efforts of makers who created contents related to Korean wave.” said CTO Kim. “Our long-term plan is to create KStarCoin based on our own platform rather than Ethereum platform.”
Staff Reporter Gil, Jaeshik | osolgil@etnews.com