Why South Korea's Specialized Blockchain 'Maroo' Is Gaining Attention

Web3 research firm TaiGee Research published an analysis report on January 17th regarding Maroo (Maroo), a Layer 1 blockchain being developed by Hashed Open Finance with a focus on stablecoins.

The report states that South Korea's current financial regulatory environment has fragmented transaction rules embedded within each service code. This leads to inefficiency as businesses must separately update their systems whenever regulations like the Travel Rule threshold change.

Maroo implements these rules at the chain level rather than the service level. A Legal Oracle Committee, involving regulators, financial institutions, and legal entities, sets regulatory data directly on-chain, while a Programmable Compliance Layer (PCL) compares all transactions against these standards before execution.

Non-compliant transactions are blocked before being recorded in blocks. When regulations change, updating parameters allows all services across the network to immediately adhere to new standards.

The report explains South Korea's regulatory specificity through its AML (anti-money laundering) framework. While international guidelines suggest a $1000 threshold and the US regulates transactions over $3000, South Korea recently removed even the 1 million won lower limit, requiring all transactions to disclose sender/receiver information regardless of amount.

Setting OKRW, a KRW stablecoin, as the network's base unit is another feature. Unlike chains that accept non-fixed assets for gas fees, which can lead to double costs during congestion and asset price increases, Maroo manages congestion through a single metric since it operates on a KRW basis. Issuance authority is managed under protocol-level governance control.

One reason for building a dedicated mainnet is the need for self-control over core network rules to enable emergency asset freezes, recovery, and compensation during incidents like hacks or illegal fund flows. This allows for reissuance at the protocol level.

The report compares this approach to how nations protect monetary sovereignty. Transaction privacy is designed using zero-knowledge proofs so only parties involved can view transaction details, while regulators can access them via audit keys when legal requirements are met.

Maroo is led by Hashed Open Finance (a subsidiary of Hashed), with ShardLab and Delight Labs joining as partners. Both companies have operated stablecoin payment infrastructure in Southeast Asia and multiple mainnets since 2018, respectively, and both maintain teams in Seoul.

The report also highlights timing, noting that the Electronic Securities Act is scheduled to take effect in February 2027, with ongoing discussions about who can issue KRW stablecoins. It concludes that Maroo's design allows it to adapt to various regulatory scenarios rather than waiting for specific institutional decisions.

TaiGee Research Center Director Yun Seung-sik stated: 'It is difficult to secure market leadership time by choosing infrastructure after regulations are finalized.' He added, 'The practical challenge for institutions is to pre-verify infrastructure capable of adapting to how regulations ultimately take shape.'