Kima Launches Network to Bridge Digital and Traditional Finance

At first glance, the digital assets and financial worlds couldn’t be more different. Digital assets, or cryptocurrencies, are commonly seen as volatile, semi-shady digital money tech bros with flat-brim caps and colorful hoodies hype up on Twitter. In contrast, traditional finance (TradFi) has an image of relative stability, compliance, and trusted currencies governed by men in suits who favor calculated risks and patient investing procedures.

These oversimplified generalizations may hold an ounce of truth, but they fail to reckon with the steady convergence of these two competing financial systems. have experimented with blockchain while investing in digital platforms and services to enhance user experience. Likewise, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols have become more voluntarily compliant while improving risk management and security. 

Still, the differences between centralized institutions and blockchain-based organizations developing blockchain-based financial products are quite pronounced. As TradFi flirts with ways to increase its engagement with DeFi and crypto, regulatory and privacy obligations limit its participation. Likewise, crypto enthusiasts and developers who oppose the banking sector on principle have largely adopted a more rational approach toward its rival, favoring strategic collaborations. 

With the understanding that cooperation is mutually beneficial, it’s increasingly likely that the future of finance will have some blend of DeFi and TradFi. But expediting this process requires a significant infrastructure update to support both sides of the financial spectrum.   

This is where Kima, a decentralized payment protocol, steps in to provide a truly decentralized solution to enable institutions and individuals to securely engage with digital assets in a compliant manner. 

Kima’s recently launched mainnet facilitates seamless communication and transfers between a growing number of blockchains and ecosystems without using risky smart contracts. This sets a new standard for blockchain interoperability, vastly improving the experience, security, and scalability over bridges and other cross-chain tools with less interoperability and greater risk. 

However, as an asset-agnostic protocol, Kima’s technology is uniquely capable of settling transactions between blockchain-based assets and fiat systems like a bank account, effectively removing barriers between different financial ecosystems. 

To demonstrate this capability, Kima participated in a Bank of Israel (BOI) pilot program exploring the idea of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), where it successfully executed the first purchase of a tokenized stock using digital shekels. Kima’s decentralized settlement layer orchestrated the entire transaction which took place instantly with no extra fees, delays, or unforeseen occurrences. By directly linking the buyer’s purchase with digital shekels and the seller receiving regular shekels to their bank account, Kima demonstrated how it orchestrated instantaneous conversion between the two ecosystems.

Following the pilot program, Kima CEO and Co-Founder Eitan Katz said: “For the first time, our solution has enabled an unprecedentedly efficient transaction, performing real-time delivery-vs-payment without intermediary escrow or smart contracts. After securely swapping assets, the system seamlessly executed an off-ramp action within the same atomic transaction—marking the first time a decentralized chain has facilitated a transaction that integrates both digital currencies and fiat.” 

Following its mainnet launch and successful demonstration with BOI, Kima launched its native $KIMA utility token which powers the protocol’s network security through staking. It also incentivizes validators, enabling Kima’s settlement layer to facilitate transaction payments and liquidity processing—all valuable for expanding the blockchain space and bridging DeFi with TradFi. 

Katz believes Kima’s protocol and token can play a major part in the future of finance by reducing dependency on centralized intermediaries, adding: “Our protocol already supports most major blockchains, providing extensive technical help and expertise via our SDKs and APIs, ensuring developers and institutions can seamlessly integrate our technology.”

The $KIMA token is available on KuCoin, MEXC, Gate.io, and other leading exchanges. 

With countless possible applications, Kima provides the infrastructure needed to enable a truly integrated and decentralized financial system.