Israeli fintech Kima and Mastercard’s FinSec Innovation Lab have launched a project to develop use cases for connecting decentralized finance (DeFi) tools with existing services such as credit cards and bank accounts. The project is described as “making the ‘DeFi credit card’ a reality.” The Israel Innovation Authority is supporting this project.
Kima is a peer-to-peer money transfer and payment protocol that operates on a blockchain without smart contracts, and is described on its website as “buggy and experimental.” We plan to expand the existing protocol and launch the mainnet and token in the second quarter of 2024. FinSec will operate Kima nodes and be a major stakeholder in the network.
FinSec is supported by Israel’s National Cyber Agency, the Ministry of Finance, and the Agency for Innovation. We work with fintech and cybersecurity startups. The project with Kima was announced in July 2023.
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The project focuses on creating a bridge between DeFi and traditional finance, helping users overcome technical and regulatory barriers to DeFi adoption. Kima co-founder and CEO Eitan Katz said in a statement:
“The only way blockchain and DeFi will become fixtures outside the niche world of Web3 is if there is an easily accessible, secure and affordable way to connect blockchain networks with traditional financial instruments.”
Kima is growing quickly. In 2024 alone, we announced six consolidations and 18 new partnerships. These include ventures in Vietnam and Thailand. We also joined the incubator of the artificial intelligence protocol ChatGPT. Kima uses AI in its liquidity management algorithms.
Kima is one of 16 companies supported by FinSec. Mastercard is participating in several blockchain development projects. We are working with US banks for tokenized payments on a shared ledger. It has partnered with DeFi platform Nexo on a cryptocurrency credit card in the European Economic Area and is working with blockchain and payments providers to research central bank digital currencies.
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