South Korean digital identity leader expands to Luxembourg

Luxembourg's credentials as a trusted, digitally advanced business location have attracted another high-growth technology company to its shores. South Korean digital identity specialist Hopae has established its European headquarters in the Grand Duchy, with plans to eventually manage global operations from here. The company is now positioning itself at the heart of Europe's digital identity revolution – and sees Luxembourg as the ideal launchpad.

Digital identity: An accelerating development 

Proving one’s identity digitally – rather than using a physical ID card or similar – is becoming increasingly common. A recent study by global tech strategists Juniper Research indicates that the number of installed digital ID apps will increase by 121% between 2025 and 2030. The EU’s eIDAS 2.0 regulation introduces the European Digital Identity Wallet with the objective of giving every EU citizen a secure, self-sovereign digital ID for managing and sharing personal data across borders. The EU targets widespread adoption by 2030. 

I wanted to solve the challenge of moving from paper/plastic ID cards to digital ones on the global scale.
Ace Shim, Hopae

For Ace Shim, co-founder and CEO of Hopae, this evolution represents an interesting opportunity for business expansion. His first company, Blockchain Labs, was born out of his frustration with cumbersome identification procedures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company built a digital COVID vaccination pass that was adopted by the South Korean government and used by 43 million active users every day. The blockchain-based technology preserves user privacy, meaning that while identity is verified, users’ movements cannot be tracked.

As the pandemic came to an end, Mr Shim turned his eyes beyond his home country. “I wanted to solve the challenge of moving from paper/plastic ID cards to digital ones on the global scale,” he recounts. “Governments around the world were integrating lessons learnt from the pandemic, and the market shifted significantly.” The new company Hopae was established to target the international market. 

Why Luxembourg? Trust, infrastructure and speed

Hopae is building what it claims to be the world’s most trusted digital identity infrastructure. It offers an online platform that provides simple access to over 60 types of electronic IDs used across the world, as well as a turnkey identity wallet software development kit that can be embedded into apps. The company is a technical partner of the WE BUILD consortium, a major European initiative selected by the European Commission to develop and test the European Digital Identity Wallet. Hopae’s participation is a key step in its European expansion, but to succeed, Mr Shim realised that it needed to go further.

“We are constantly asked two questions: firstly, whether our handling and storing of sensitive personal data respects the EU’s data protection rules and is fully GDPR-compliant. Secondly, as we are servicing large online platforms with massive volumes of traffic, whether we can guarantee top-level availability and scalability of our services at all times. We needed to find a European location that would give us the right conditions for both.”

Luxembourg has fast decision making and a very practical approach.
Ace Shim, Hopae

While evaluating several European locations, Mr Shim attended a reception at the Luxembourg embassy in Seoul and learnt several interesting facts about the country. “Luxembourg has top-tier datacentres equipped with disaster recovery systems, used by EU initiatives as secure infrastructure. The fact that Estonia hosts its government backup server in Luxembourg to ensure data sovereignty is very attractive for a trust-based service provider like us,” he says. 

Another priority was to find a location where the company’s development would not be slowed down by bureaucratic hurdles. “Luxembourg has fast decision making and a very practical approach,” Mr Shim confirms. “Another important factor is that I can do everything in English, which is rarely the case in other countries.”

From European headquarters to global hub

Hopae has now established its European headquarters in Luxembourg, but in time the company plans to manage its global operations from here. Mr Shim is himself relocating to the Grand Duchy. “People in Luxembourg are open-minded, and working with local partners and customers here has been great. I feel very welcome,” he emphasises.

When I tell my contacts from the US or Saudi Arabia, for example, that our servers are located in Luxembourg, they all react positively. 
Ace Shim, Hopae

His main priority is now for Hopae to be recognised as an EU intermediary and obtain the certification as a Qualified Trust Service Provider under eIDAS, authorising it to offer high-security digital services across the EU. He also plans to grow his team. “We are raising funds to be able to expand and invest more in Luxembourg, which we consider as a technical and compliance hub. This means that we need to recruit more engineers.” 

Mr Shim’s confidence in Luxembourg is strengthened by feedback from international partners. “When I tell my contacts from the US or Saudi Arabia, for example, that our servers are located in Luxembourg, they all react positively. This is a real asset for the country – and for us.”