The investment company Republic buys 10 million Astra protocol tokens in a new agreement
Switzerland-based decentralized know-your-customer (KYC) platform Astra Protocol said investment platform Republic will buy 10 million ASTRA, the protocol’s original fixed supply utility.
Regulatory scrutiny has increased around crypto since the multibillion-dollar collapse of centralized exchange FTX, which reportedly had a liquidity crisis due to bad actors rather than a glitch in the technology. The scandal increased the focus on decentralized finance projects (DeFi), and also the need to get ahead of potential regulations that may resemble traditional finance (TradFi).
“The events of the past year have made it clear that legitimate crypto and DeFi projects with a long-term strategy can no longer afford to operate outside the boundaries of TradFi’s regulations,” Republic Crypto CEO Andrew Durgee said in a press release. “The Astra protocol converges the best of both worlds for individual users, so everyone can continue to reap the benefits of Web3 without compromising privacy, security or anonymity.”
Republic will use the ASTRA tokens, which are worth around $3 million, mainly as “credits” for Astra’s compliance platform for KYC and Know-Your-Business (KYB) services, Astra Chief Technology Officer Sakhib Waseem told CoinDesk during an interview. Astra uses tokenization to rank incoming transactions to achieve faster throughput even with a high volume of requests.
Astra’s platform, which also offers anti-money laundering (AML) services, applies financial regulatory standards from more than 160 countries and more than 300 sanctions and watchlists without compromising users’ anonymity.
“Because of the lack of regulatory compliance and the open source nature, people have kind of watched [crypto] as a shady form of financial vehicle – new technology that can allow people to operate in illegal and strange ways,” said Waseem. “Astra gives more legitimacy to a lot of platforms because it shows that these builders aren’t operating in shady mechanisms. They’re taking advantage of incredibly fast and incredibly innovative technology, but they’re doing it the right way.”
Astra Protocol has grabbed headlines with its stacked advisory board, which includes former Samsung Group President and Chief Strategy Officer Young Sohn, former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and former EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan .
