Israeli startup Kima is collaborating with Mastercard’s FinSec Innovation Lab on a project aimed at integrating decentralized finance (DeFi) applications with fiat systems.
Kima is an asset-agnostic, peer-to-peer money transfer and payment protocol that has received funding from the Israel Innovation Authority to support this initiative. The partnership will focus on creating a use case that connects traditional financial instruments, such as bank accounts and credit cards, with DeFi protocols, platforms, and services.
This collaboration seeks to enhance Kima’s existing payment protocol, which enables direct money transfers through blockchain and bank accounts without the need for smart contracts. As part of the initiative, FinSec will operate a Kima node and participate as a stakeholder in the expanding cross-ecosystem network.
Eitan Katz, CEO of Kima, emphasizes the importance of bridging the gap between blockchain and traditional finance: “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 bridge blockchain networks with traditional financial means.”