"Since replacing our previous Kafka service with AutoMQ, we've achieved 100% uptime with zero production incidents. AutoMQ's S3-based architecture gives us the cost efficiency and instant elasticity that a 24/7 blockchain platform demands. It has become the backbone connecting our off-chain services to on-chain transactions, and we look forward to expanding more use cases on it as our THBK programmable payment ecosystem grows."
Nuttapatprom, Technology Director, Bitkub Blockchain Technology
The Challenge
Bitkub Blockchain Technology is the blockchain infrastructure arm of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, the parent company behind Thailand's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Its KUB Chain and THBK programmable payment system connect off-chain application services to on-chain transactions for deposits, withdrawals, merchant payments, enterprise settlements, and notifications.
High Managed Kafka Costs
Bitkub's previous paid managed Kafka service kept the system running, but the fixed infrastructure cost was high for a 24/7 blockchain platform. As THBK added more payment scenarios, consumer groups, and transaction flows, the team needed a next-generation Kafka platform that could reduce Kafka cost through architecture rather than compromise reliability.
A Stable, High-Performance Streaming Layer for a New Blockchain Architecture
The gas limit was a blockchain protocol constraint, so throughput depended on how well the Kafka layer could feed the transaction pipeline. Bitkub needed a streaming system that could:
- Handle financial-grade off-chain messaging for deposits, withdrawals, notifications, and settlements
- Provide enough throughput for multi-wallet parallel submission and batch optimization
- Operate continuously with production-grade stability, because a stalled stream can mean stalled payments
- Keep the Apache Kafka interface intact so existing services could migrate without rewriting producers or consumers
Why AutoMQ
Bitkub chose AutoMQ as a Kafka-compatible streaming layer that could modernize infrastructure without changing the payment application architecture.
Drop-In Kafka Compatibility
AutoMQ implements the Apache Kafka protocol, so Bitkub could migrate existing topics, consumer groups, and microservice integrations with zero application code changes. For regulated financial infrastructure, avoiding a large re-architecture was a prerequisite.
S3-Based Storage and Stateless Brokers
AutoMQ stores data on Amazon S3 while brokers remain stateless. This removes local disk management, replica synchronization, and data rebalancing overhead, while making storage more cost-efficient than disk-heavy Kafka infrastructure.
BYOC Control with Managed Operations
AutoMQ runs in Bitkub's AWS account through the BYOC model. Bitkub keeps control of data and network boundaries, while AutoMQ handles cluster operations such as monitoring, scaling, upgrades, and incident response.
The Results
AutoMQ gave Bitkub a new-generation Kafka foundation for its THBK programmable payment architecture. Validated payment requests enter AutoMQ topics, consumers maintain pending transaction state, a transaction adapter distributes work across multiple sender wallets, and optimized batches are submitted to KUB Chain.
A Smooth Kafka Migration
AutoMQ's full compatibility with Apache Kafka made the migration smooth. Existing topics, consumer groups, producers, and consumers moved from the previous managed Kafka service to AutoMQ without application refactoring, reducing migration burden and risk.
Lower Cost, Stable Runtime, and Higher Throughput
By moving to AutoMQ's S3-based, stateless broker architecture, Bitkub reduced Kafka infrastructure costs by more than 50% while maintaining 100% uptime with zero production incidents since 2025.
The same blockchain can now process nearly 10x more transactions per block by keeping the on-chain submission pipeline fed efficiently. That headroom helps THBK support more merchants and financial use cases without changing the underlying chain protocol.
AutoMQ now handles Bitkub's production real-time messaging, from payment gateway integration and enterprise settlements to transaction notifications for banking partners and end users.
How Bitkub cut Kafka costs by 50%+
Read the migration story behind a Kafka-compatible move from managed Kafka to AutoMQ, completed without application rewrites and with 100% uptime since 2025.
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