What if you wanted to split a dinner bill with your friend using crypto, or use bitcoin to buy your morning coffee?
In theory, these are all everyday financial transactions that crypto should be able to handle swiftly and easily. But in practice, getting crypto to act like its fiat counterpart requires a number of convoluted steps to bridge the two financial networks together. In Ethereum, smart contracts provide a mechanism to do so, despite their security gaps and regulatory blocks. Bitcoin, however, remains incompatible with smart contracts, and that limits their cross-network functionality when the world’s largest and most well-known cryptocurrency is excluded from it.
Kima is an asset-agnostic, peer-to-peer money transfer and payment protocol building a unified settlement layer to simplify crypto and fiat cooperation. With the launch of its SDK built for dApp developers, institutional Web3 builders, Web 2.0 apps, and fintech companies, Kima creates an infrastructure to welcome true cross-network and cross-ecosystem interaction.
By building its protocol around direct money transfers via blockchain addresses and bank accounts, rather than smart contracts, Kima eliminates technical dependencies and vulnerabilities while welcoming blockchains and traditional financial institutions whose infrastructures are incompatible with smart contracts.
“Crypto and fiat cannot move forward as partners without addressing the number of complicated intermediaries needed to bridge them, due to their complex regulatory and technical landscapes,” says Eitan Katz, CEO of Kima. “Simply put, our protocol aims to use the blockchain for what it does best: removing intermediaries.”
Unlike other crypto bridges, such as centralized swaps, and onramp-offramp services, Kima’s Smart Transaction primitive is not bound to exchanges or specific networks, ensuring minimized trust assumptions while maximizing efficiency. Kima makes common financial services such as money transfers, transactions, and escrow services between ecosystems—blockchains and bank accounts—as seamless as possible by using funds from anywhere.
“This is what will break the silos that impede progress and create unprecedented levels of efficiency and security. Launching our SDK indicates a step toward making cross-ecosystem financial interaction as seamless, secure, and transparent as possible, to make it as ubiquitous as PayPal or Apple Pay,” adds Katz.
The launch coincides with Kima joining FinSec Innovation Lab, a joint venture of Mastercard and Enel X to support projects advancing research and development in financial technology and cybersecurity.
Joining FinSec Innovation Lab, a joint venture by Mastercard and Enel X, Kima goes back to basics by leveraging blockchain wallets and direct peer-to-peer transfers to simplify crypto-fiat accessibility and elevate cross-network functionality.
The launch coincides with Kima joining FinSec Innovation Lab, a joint venture of Mastercard and Enel X to support projects advancing research and development in financial technology and cybersecurity. The lab helps startups accelerate their journey to success by providing mentorship and resources in both commercial and technology areas. As the newest addition to FinSec Innovation Lab, Kima now has the capabilities to conduct complex research in evolving financial systems.
When asked about the partnership, Sidney Gottesman, CEO of FinSec Innovation Lab said “We are thrilled to welcome Eitan Katz and Kima to our lab and we look forward to our joint journey. Digital Assets is one of our focus areas and made Kima a natural fit for the lab.”
With the SDK at the foundation of its offering, Kima’s settlement layer is built to handle wide-ranging applications including cross-border transfers, eCommerce, borrowing and lending, gaming, NFT marketplaces, wallets, and decentralized exchanges.