Upbit Developer Conference to gather thousands of developers from at home and abroad

CEO of Dunamu Lee Sirgoo speaks at the Upbit Developer Conference 2021. [UDC 2021]

More than 3,000 developers from Korea and countries around the world will gather in Busan to participate in the country's only event that deals with blockchain ecosystems, the Upbit Developer Conference (UDC) 2022.

Hosted by Dunamu, the operator of domestic virtual asset exchange Upbit, UDC 2022 will be held at the Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Center between September 22 to 23. Marking its 5th anniversary this year, UDC is the largest developer conference in Korea with more than 617 companies and 15,100 individuals having participated over the past four years. It will be the first time in three years that the event is being held offline.

At this year’s UDC, popular areas of interest such as non-fungible tokens, metaverse and blockchain-based internet Web 3.0 will be dealt with, as well as more professional technology such as smart contracts, which are programs stored on a blockchain that run when conditions are met to automate the execution of an agreement. Decentralized autonomous organization, meaning software that offers users a built-in model for the collective management of its code, will be another technology discussed, as well as decentralized finance, which is peer-to-peer financial services on public blockchains.

Among the many events at the conference, the most noteworthy is the smart contract session held on the first day.

Smart contracts, also called “blockchain 2.0,” are a kind of digital contract programmed on blockchain technology. The contract is not completed unless certain conditions imposed on it are met. They can also be used to conduct peer-to-peer contracts without an intermediary. Smart contracts are being used in various areas such as for financial transactions and real estate contracts. At UDC 2022, seven sessions will be held to explore the current status and prospects of smart contract technology evolution.

Many well-known figures within the blockchain industry will be attending UDC 2022. A total of 50 speakers will participate in this year’s event. The opening speaker will be Song Chi-hyung, chairman of Dunamu. Other domestic blockchain industry figures attending the event include Jay Park, CEO of Lambda 256, Lim Soo-jin, CPO and co-founder of CryptoQuant, Kwak Kyeong-won, country director for Korea at Universal Brand Development and Lee Jung-yup, chairman of the Blockchain and Law Society.

Overseas visitors include Justin Sun, founder of Tron, Mel McCann, vice president of engineering of Cardano Foundation, Jason Brink, president of blockchain at Gala Games and Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO and founder of Chiliz.

BY KIM YEON-JOO [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]