Events

Fizen x Kima Network AMA Recap: How The Cross-chain Solutions Are Making Big Waves To the Financial Ecosystem

Fizen.io

09 Oct 2024 — 4 min read

An Amazing AMA with Kima Network

Kima Network is a cross-ecosystem money transfer protocol that enables seamless and secure TradFi/DeFi interoperability without smart contracts. We sat down with Leo Vu - CEO and Co-founder of Fizen.io, and Tomer - CMO of Kima Network, to redefine finance for consumers and enterprises, and his sharing about Kima's upcoming IDO.

Full record here: https://x.com/i/spaces/1BdxYENVzbQxX

“Hello” to the community from Tomer

Tomer, CMO of Kima Network, began as an angel investor in the company before transitioning to the role of Chief Marketing Officer. They express gratitude for receiving this opportunity from Kima's entrepreneurs and explain the company's purpose to those unfamiliar with it. Kima is a communication protocol that facilitates seamless communication between decentralized and centralized financial ecosystems. The company enables blockchains to communicate with each other, regardless of the technology they're built on, and connects centralized entities like banks with decentralized entities like Solana wallets.

For instance, a user could connect their Robinhood app to their Solana wallet or Bitcoin and easily purchase an Apple stock using Solana-based bank tokens. All transactions occur on-chain, without intermediaries, at high speed and with maximum security. Kima is currently the only platform offering this unique integration between decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi), and they hope to create significant change in the industry by connecting the Web2 world with Web3 DeFi systems.

In addition to this role, he has 25 years of experience as a marketer, 12 years as an angel investor, and is a contributor to Forbes and Coin Telegraph, focusing on DeFi blockchain infrastructure. They also hold the position of Investment Director at ChainGPT Labs, another portfolio company where they’ve been involved since the early stages, working closely with the CEO to build its foundation. He emphasizes transparency in this discussion and is excited to engage further.

Why is Kima launched on ChainGPT Pads?

At the start of the year, Tomer had the opportunity to work with ChainGPT, and he was proud to say that several of his portfolio companies have been incubated by them. In full transparency, he’s also involved in building ChainGPT's incubation program and act as an advisor and mentor to the projects they incubate. While he’s admittedly biased, the level of commitment and work the team puts into incubating and accelerating IDO companies is unmatched. He said that it’s hard to compare ChainGPT’s dedication to any other incubation, acceleration, or launchpad programs.

As a part of the team, he shared an insider scoop: “Kima can have more portfolio companies who are launching, not all of them are getting to ChainGPT. It's very hard to be accepted to ChainGPT Launchpad. The fact that you see a project launching on ChainGPT is hyper hard”. He also shared that, while Kima is one of his projects, many others he invested in haven’t made the cut. ChainGPT maintains a strict and transparent selection process. If a project isn’t fit for incubation or acceleration, it simply doesn’t make it through. “Being part of the team doesn’t guarantee automatic approval for my projects. In fact, when I’m involved in a project, I’m excluded from voting on its acceptance to maintain transparency. It’s a rigorous process, and everyone is aware of it.” - Tomer said.

The Long-term Partnership between Fizen and Kima

The Kima mainnet is already live and operational. Although final tests are still being conducted to ensure everything works smoothly, all blockchain integrations are functional on the mainnet, not just the testnet. While the full public release is pending, the system is essentially live.

This early launch was necessary because multiple projects, such as Fizen, are ready to go live on Kima. Fizen has been a great partner throughout the process. In addition to this, Kima recently completed the first public tests for the Israeli Shekel (CBDC) in collaboration with PayPal, Coty, Fireblocks, and other major players. Moreover, Kima is also working with two other governments, currently in the exploration phase, to use Kima as the crypto payment infrastructure for their respective CBDCs.

Leo Vu also emphasized excitement in partnering with Kima, noting that Kima’s technology enables seamless payments across different blockchains, solving a major challenge for crypto users. This partnership will make crypto payments smoother, faster, and easier for users and merchants alike.

About Fizen x Kima partnership: https://fizen.substack.com/p/kimas-first-real-life-use-case-implemented

These developments highlight Kima’s growing role in blockchain and crypto payments, with more major partnerships and projects in the pipeline.

The Vision of Fizen.io CEO

Leo Vu shared the journey of developing Fizen over three years, highlighting personal experiences in various countries and challenges with outdated banking systems. Fizen aims to address pain points for expats, travelers, and people in emerging markets by offering a crypto-based solution for payments, such as QR code payments with stablecoins, converting crypto to fiat seamlessly, and rolling out services like hotel bookings, eSIM, and gift cards. With 70,000 active users, Fizen also supports people in high-inflation countries by allowing them to hold USDt, access DeFi, and earn up to 15% APR through a lending program.