OPEN Is Betting on the Asian Market. Here’s Why

At the moment, the Asian continent seems to be taking the lead in pioneering the way for both app development and blockchain innovation. Countries like China, Japan, and South Korea, which are all global leaders in technology development, have built vibrant developer communities and have long been known to have some of the strongest mobile application, including gaming markets. Because OPEN enables developers to connect existing applications with their payment technology, the Asian market is a giant opportunity for mutual growth.

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One of the biggest markets in Asia that OPEN is interested in servicing is gaming. In 2017, the gaming industry in Asia brought in $51.2 billion – almost double the amount of revenue generated in North America in the same industry. Furthermore, South Korea has one of the region’s most robust gaming developer communities. And many of the games produced in South Korea are purchased and played across the region, where they’re especially popular among Chinese consumers. The OPEN Platform integrates seamlessly with games, providing payment solutions for initial purchases on the app store, subscriptions, and in-game transactions.

Asian Markets and Blockchain Adoption

China has expressed interest in exploring ways to help blockchain technology receive mainstream acceptance and adaptation.

They have also quickly gained over the US market in blockchain innovation, and their position as a dominant blockchain-driven country could be a reality given China has already has mass adoption of mobile wallet payment methods.

Along with China, countries like Singapore, South Korea, and Japan have also been receptive to integrating blockchain into various aspects of society. Each of these countries has been on the forefront of developing creative and innovative apps, which OPEN believes will create a need for quicker, more secure payment solutions for app-based purchases.

With OPEN, developers have the opportunity to integrate blockchain-based payment solutions into new and existing apps without having extensive knowledge of blockchain technology and programming languages like Solidity, which is used for writing smart contracts. Application developers can easily port an existing application onto a blockchain and begin accepting cryptocurrencies directly into their application backends with minimal effort This means that virtually every developer can use OPEN as a means of processing cryptocurrency payments – not just those who can write smart contracts.

Capturing Trends in the Market

There’s currently a growing trend in Asian countries for games like CryptoKitties, where characters, upgrades, and other rare in-game items are stored in the game’s underlying blockchain network. OPEN can assist these developers by giving them a streamlined payment platform without excessive transaction fees and network lag.

With OPEN, developers also don’t need to have their entire codebase written in Solidity just to process transactions. The biggest benefit of using OPEN is that it allows developers to program their apps in a language that they’re comfortable with. The OPEN API, and a unique process known as Scaffolding, allows the developers to easily run payment systems on-chain, while keeping their primary codebase off the blockchain.

Developers that integrate the OPEN platform into their apps become part of the OPEN Developer Program, where they’re airdropped OPEN Tokens based on their network activity as incentivization to use OPEN to process payments. For countries like China, Japan, and South Korea, which have always been on the forefront of developing innovative mobile apps and games, OPEN gives more developers the opportunity to create innovative software that reaches more people and surprises us all.

In 2016, Apple earned $26.5 billion in app revenue – that number increased to $28 billion the following year. Between Apple and the Google Play Store, the app store economy is worth approximately $500 billion.  With the help of OPEN, developers in Asian markets will sell apps and process in-app transactions without the need for Apple and Google’s promotional platforms, or their middlemen fees. This means that the future of app development will be determined by the creativity and ingenuity of the developers, not the online marketplaces.