"Catch up" as in making sure that it's compatible with -- and ideally leverages -- those new platform features.

> Blocking kotlin code should benefit immediately.

I'd be remiss if I downplayed the value of that; however, Kotlin Coroutines won't benefit immediately, which is what many people who've invested in the Kotlin ecosystem use for structure concurrency. There's a uncertainty amongst the community whether Loom will complement coroutines or conflict/supersede it.

https://old.reddit.com/r/Kotlin/comments/il9u7o/how_will_kot...

https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/kotlin-coroutines-and-upcom...

https://discuss.kotlinlang.org/t/how-does-kotlin-plan-to-int...