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. 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.
Smart contracts have limitations despite their benefits in the blockchain industry. Their security vulnerabilities have led to significant fund thefts, amounting to over USD 3.1 billion in 2022. Additionally, smart contracts do not facilitate easy cross-network transfers or transactions, hindering Web3 adoption, including on the Bitcoin blockchain. This poses obstacles for everyday tasks such as transferring money, converting crypto to fiat, and purchasing digital assets, limiting blockchain usage for the average person.
Kima, backed by USD 1.7 million in pre-seed funding, launches its SDK to empower dApp developers, institutional Web3 builders, Web 2.0 apps, and fintech companies. Unlike other crypto bridges, Kima's Smart Transaction primitive operates independently of exchanges or specific networks, reducing trust assumptions and enhancing efficiency. By leveraging external accounts, such as EOAs, Kima strengthens settlement security, eliminating the need for smart contracts on every blockchain and mitigating common attack points.
Kima aims to facilitate seamless financial services across ecosystems by bridging blockchains and bank accounts. They achieve this through the use of funds from anywhere and implementing essential components to enhance settlement security. Transactions utilise TSS and trusted execution environments to control key sharing among blockchain validators, ensuring increased node participation without compromising key integrity.
Kima's Liquidity Management (LiMa) algorithm efficiently manages supply and demand across ecosystems, maintaining a system-wide balance and equitable liquidity distribution. To support compliant crypto transactions and fiat payments, Kima employs an opt-in compliance system at the protocol level, conducting necessary checks for regulatory compliance.
With their peer-to-peer payment and transfer protocol, Kima establishes an extensive infrastructure that fosters inter-ecosystem financial activity, eliminating intermediaries and smart contracts. This versatile settlement layer caters to various applications such as cross-border transfers, ecommerce, borrowing, and lending, gaming, NFT marketplaces, wallets, and decentralised exchanges.
As the newest addition to FinSec Innovation Lab, Kima now has the capabilities to conduct complex research in evolving financial systems. The agreement garners critical support from Mastercard and Enel X to expand Kima’s beta programme with financial institutions, launch pilot projects, and develop progressive technology.
Kima aims to address the obstacles posed by complex intermediaries in the crypto-fiat partnership, leveraging blockchain to eliminate them and enhance efficiency and security. The launch of their SDK represents a significant step towards achieving seamless and transparent cross-ecosystem financial interaction, with the goal of making it as widely accessible as popular payment systems. Meanwhile, as a part of the FinSec Innovation Lab, Kima receives support in both commercial and technological aspects, providing access to subject matter experts, alliance partners, infrastructure, and tailored project development.
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