Kima, the peer-to-peer money transfer and payment protocol, has achieved a major milestone in the fintech industry by becoming a part of the FinSec Innovation Lab. This accelerator, led by Mastercard, focuses on advancements in fintech and cybersecurity. Additionally, Kima has secured a grant from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) to support an ambitious project aimed at connecting decentralized finance (DeFi) applications with traditional fiat systems.
The collaboration between Kima and FinSec aims to address a crucial issue in the DeFi ecosystem: the lack of integration with mainstream financial instruments such as bank accounts and credit cards.
Currently, DeFi protocols often operate independently, resulting in fragmented liquidity and a complex user experience. By linking traditional financial instruments with DeFi platforms, Kima and FinSec aim to create a seamless bridge that enhances accessibility and usability for everyday users.
Scheduled to begin in late 2024, the initiative will utilize Kima’s existing payment protocol, which enables direct money transfers via blockchain without the need for smart contracts. This infrastructure will play a key role in developing new methods to connect bank accounts and credit cards to various DeFi tools, making these innovative financial instruments more accessible to a wider audience.
Under this groundbreaking project, FinSec will operate a Kima node and become a vital stakeholder in the evolving cross-ecosystem network. This involvement is expected to strengthen Kima’s payment protocol and settlement layer in preparation for the upcoming token and mainnet launches in the second quarter of 2024. Kima’s settlement layer is designed to support a wide range of applications, including cross-border transfers, crypto payment rails, DeFi borrowing and lending, gaming, real-world asset (RWA) marketplaces, wallets, and exchanges.
Eitan Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of Kima, expressed optimism about the collaboration, stating, “Kima and FinSec are embarking on an exciting journey together—one that we believe will lead to significant advancements in how people engage with DeFi.”
“For blockchain and DeFi to become mainstream beyond the niche world of Web3, there must be an easily accessible, secure, and affordable way to connect blockchain networks with traditional financial means,” Katz added.
Sidney Gottesman, CEO of FinSec, emphasized the innovative potential of the partnership. “We are pleased to welcome Kima as a startup in the FinSec Lab and to support the initiative to seamlessly connect decentralized finance (DeFi) applications with fiat systems. We are excited to witness the development of Eitan and his team and are pleased to see the success of their innovative solutions.”
This collaboration represents a significant milestone in the fintech and DeFi industries, promising to deliver more integrated, user-friendly financial solutions that bridge the gap between decentralized and traditional finance.
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