Ava Labs’ Justin Kim on Web3 Adoption, Compliance and Custom Blockchains

For companies exploring Web3, the practical question is how to test blockchain services without rebuilding an entire business around them. Justin Kim, Ava Labs’ head of Korea, says adoption can begin with limited experiments and expand as customers respond. He also points to custom blockchains as a way to match a network’s rules and features to a company’s needs.

Kim spoke with Techopedia about how blockchain could change business processes, where user engagement may benefit, and what companies should consider when integrating Web3. His views reflect Ava Labs’ work on Avalanche, a smart contracts platform, and AvaCloud, a service for launching and managing custom blockchains.

Start with a business problem

Kim describes Web3 as both a technology shift and a change in how businesses think about participation and ownership. Blockchain can support peer-to-peer interactions and transactions that don’t rely on a central intermediary. It can also give users more ownership of data and digital assets.

For businesses, the near-term appeal may be operational. Kim said many processes still involve paperwork and intermediaries, adding time and cost. Digitizing and tokenizing parts of those workflows could reduce that burden in some cases. The gains would depend on the process: putting an asset on a blockchain does not, by itself, remove every administrative step around it.

Kim also sees potential in customer engagement, particularly for retail businesses. Loyalty programs and games could let customers retain digital items or rewards earned through their activity. That model may create more direct relationships between companies and customers, while giving both sides new ways to use data. The practical value will depend on whether customers find the experience useful enough to participate.

He cited interest in both financial services and gaming on Avalanche. Kim said JP Morgan, Apollo and Citigroup were testing financial service possibilities on the platform. He also pointed to the games Shrapnel and Off the Grid, which were drawing attention for incorporating Web3 features. These examples show different potential uses, but the interview does not provide results from the financial tests or details about how players are responding.

Adoption can happen in stages

A common misstep, in Kim’s view, is assuming that Web3 must rapidly replace a company’s existing online services. Businesses may also delay experiments while searching for a perfect entry point. His advice is to “crawl, walk, and then sprint”: test a small idea, learn from users, and scale only if the response supports it.

For a company considering NFTs, for example, Kim suggests starting with free collectibles that carry little value. User reactions can help teams assess interest and identify friction before they invest in a full marketplace and its payment systems. That sequence makes the first experiment easier to contain, while preserving the option to build more later.

Education is another part of adoption. Web3 products differ in how decentralized they are, and central control can remain in some systems. Kim recommends learning from businesses already operating in the space and studying how they approached implementation. For teams evaluating a project, that means examining who controls the network, how it works in practice, and which responsibilities remain with the company.

Network design shapes compliance and user experience

Kim says businesses dealing with financial activity need to account for customer identification and anti-money laundering requirements, alongside geographic considerations. These obligations can be difficult to fit onto a public blockchain designed for general use and governed by fixed rules. His argument is that companies may need their own blockchains, configured around their operating requirements.

A custom network can offer more control over features such as identity checks and transaction fees. But it also means a business must consider how the chain will be managed and how its design supports the intended service. The interview makes the case for tailoring infrastructure; it does not detail the costs, technical trade-offs or ongoing responsibilities involved in operating a network.

AvaCloud is Ava Labs’ end-to-end service for building and running custom blockchains. Kim says it aims to reduce the time, overhead and expense associated with launching one, so partners can focus on their products rather than the underlying implementation.

A retail example on Avalanche

Kim pointed to SK Planet, a Korean conglomerate, as an example of the approach. The company launched an Avalanche Subnet managed through AvaCloud. According to Kim, SK Planet brought 220,000 users who had completed KYC onto the network and launched three consumer applications in Korea: a loyalty program, K-pop tickets and e-sports fan rewards.

The example illustrates how a company can use one tailored blockchain for several customer-facing services. It also shows how identity checks can be part of a Web3 deployment. Kim expects custom networks to remain relevant across financial products and games: financial applications may need identity features, while games may need fee structures and performance tuned for smoother play.

For teams weighing Web3, Kim’s central point is practical: begin with a focused use case, learn from actual users, and choose infrastructure that fits the product’s needs. The next test is whether those experiments deliver enough value to justify the added systems and operating work.