Category Archives: Astra

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Astra Protocol, which is focused on equipping all DeFi smart contracts with a decentralized compliance layer, including KYC/AML capabilities, in order to resolve real-world compliance issues, notes that the US Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) Chair, Gary Gensler, has said that consumer protection needs to improve considerably in the digital asset industry.

Regulatory authorities in the US and globally believe that better regulations are required to prevent fraudulent activities and other potentially serious issues in crypto markets.

The Astra Protocol team points out that high-profile money laundering cases across multiple financial platforms have led to regulators paying close attention to the nascent decentralized finance (DeFi) space.

Decentralized Compliance Platform Needed to Address Financial Crime

Astra explains that an innovative, highly-secure, decentralized compliance platform is required to address these growing concerns and adapt to increasingly sophisticated criminal activities. Crucially, the platform needs to effectively deal with the fast-changing regulatory environment, as laws like the “Cryptocurrency Bill 2021” and the “Keep Innovation in America Act” become effective.

Astra Protocol developers further noted that under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), any decentralized institution found trading regulated financial instruments are required by law to carry out KYC while ensuring proper AML compliance. These measures must be taken to satisfy the appropriate regulatory guidelines.

As noted by Astra Protocol developers, one of these requirements is “Independent testing” for compliance to be carried out by the futures commission merchant or introducing broker in commodities’ personnel or “by a qualified outside party.”

Astra Protocol has been created to address these requirements for all DeFi and cryptocurrency platforms.

As noted by Astra, the “Travel Rule” is considered one of the most effective approaches to prevent money laundering and other illicit activities like terrorist financing. At present, virtual-asset firms and DeFi organizations have varied approaches to handling customer due diligence, KYC, and AML/CFT requirements.

US Consumers Still Accessing Loosely Regulated Crypto Platforms

But there are still many platforms accessible to US residents that have no proper KYC procedures in place, the Astra Protocol team reveals. They’ve noted that weak and porous KYC remains a critical issue as would-be criminals may be able to circumvent these barriers.

Investors and customers are currently at risk due to damaging hacks/exploits, Internet-based scams, and theft in cases where they cannot take advantage of a consistent approach to KYC and AML across the US and beyond.

Astra further notes that as DeFi continues to evolve, it will require a proper framework for adhering to appropriate rules determined by members of society.

According to the Astra Protocol team, DeFi protocols will have to make considerable investments in a proper compliance layer. If the fail to do this, then the relevant authorities will harshly penalize those in violation of money laundering and terrorist financing laws, as the SEC has confirmed.

Equipping DeFi Protocols with Decentralized Compliance Layer

Astra says its goal is to equip all DeFi protocols and Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) with a fully decentralized compliance layer. Their service offerings reportedly include KYC & AML capabilities to serve as a tool to address real-world compliance matters using the expertise of trusted legal firms.

Astra has been designed to bridge the gap between regulators and innovators. The Protocol’s offering aims to support the highest quality KYC and various other due diligence processes using applicable frameworks from established legal firms.

Their platform offers decentralized organizations and VASPs a proper mechanism to help them with following appropriate regulations that are implemented by different jurisdictions.

For inexperienced DeFi investors, their technology calls upon professionals from well-known legal and accounting companies to conduct extensive KYC processes, and then return their decisions on the progress.

Astra offers a secure service to all customers, which is tailored to any jurisdiction’s specific requirements. They also provide clients with a clear breakdown of potential risks for any DeFi user based on recognized money laundering/terrorism financing flags.

By leveraging the Astra Protocol, decentralized platforms are able to reliably demonstrate that they are aware of and are addressing potential dangers while preventing suspicious or fraudulent transactions accordingly.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As the world of DeFi has matured, the new financial market is becoming quite prominent every day – at least according to Astra Protocol.

The company’s purpose is to ensure that DeFi protocols and other crypto organisations can stick to the rules set out by regulators – not just in the US but also in Europe and the rest of the world.

Astra Protocol’s technology utilises legal professionals to provide a security layer that does not compromise decentralisation.

Coin Rivet talked with Astra Protocol’s CEO – Sakhib Waseem – who explained Astra was the tool that facilitated the growth of DeFi in a safe way.

Waseem confirmed that the company was currently in the process of launching its ASTRA Token, which he describes as “a very exciting process”, and added there would be further updates to follow.

“We are helping platforms and their users navigate regulatory compliance,” he said.

“Effectively, we have created the first decentralised compliance protocol, which can be used by DeFi applications to manage the onboarding process and services such as KYC, AML, travel rule and regulatory reporting for 127 countries.”

Waseem added that DeFi had been incredibly successful, So much so that, while currently being largely retail-based, it has enticed traditional institutional firms.

“They see the incredible benefits of huge yield across many different platforms but their fears are focused on participating in defy without the necessary compliance, AML and regulatory oversight, and that’s where Astra comes in,” he said.

“We provide the checks and balances in a decentralized way that fits the traditional firms, the regulators, the crypto community and the DeFi apps.”

The CEO went on to explain that Astra Protocol sported a number of interesting features.

“We are firstly really proud of the fact that we are decentralised – we utilise a transparent matchmaking engine to connect users’ requests to the decentralized panel of adjudicators for those issues that they’re trying to resolve,” he said.

“Secondarily we’re very proud of the fact that this is powered by the ASTRA token which allows DeFi applications and the crypto community to be in control of how fast they want their compliance checks to be completed.

“The more tokens they push into the application, the faster they will be queued. We’re also incredibly proud of the fact that we have partnered with some of the major business advisory firms, audit firms and legal firms in the world to create the very first decentralised legal network.”

Astra Protocol’s own token

Coin Rivet asked Waseem about his prediction regarding the growing DeFi sector. He answered that he thinks DeFi is only at the start of a long journey.

“My prediction for the sector is that we will continue to see immense growth, we will see more mainstream adoption, but we will also see more regulatory involvement, more clarity on regulation and also the movement of large financial institutions into the ecosystem,” he suggested.

He also added that DeFi can be broken down into many different verticals.

“It is difficult for me to name all the ones that I love, but from a personal perspective, here are a few: DEX, UNISWAP, SUSHI, PANCAKE and an upcoming one is SUNDAESWAP,” he said.

“Beyond these, I’m also a big fan of 1inch. They have a great team and have an amazing product.

“Lending Protocols: AAVE and Compound both are doing incredibly well. Insurance: Nexus Mutual.”

Waseem also said the company would soon have some major announcements regarding partnerships in its release plan through to the end of the year and early next year.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The rise of blockchain-based platforms and virtual currencies has taught us a valuable lesson: humans love to maintain control—over their assets, everyday lives, as well as their sustenance—and they might go to great lengths to prevent others from taking control of their possessions. This type of behavior is deeply ingrained in human nature.

In addition to these factors, there’s currently an ongoing shift in consumer behavior that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak, which resulted in a massive failure of the global capital markets. As most would recall, the financial markets crashed in an unprecedented manner when awareness about the Coronavirus became widespread in late February 2020.  Investors and the average person were seeking reliable ways to save their assets from crippling inflation.

Digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) have experienced an exponential increase in their price during 2021. Although new crypto-asset classes such as non-fungible tokens or NFTs are also becoming increasingly popular, there are important regulatory challenges to address as well.

And as we continue to experience a dramatic change in how we perform transactions and use money, there’s also been an increase in new crypto-focused initiatives deployed on blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT) networks.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, which aim to fully decentralize the manner in which we transact and carry out other business activities, have also emerged as a high-potential financial services sector. According to DeFi Prime data, there are around 243 DeFi-related initiatives currently listed. Notably, Ethereum maintains the most significant share of the market, with 220 DeFi projects developed on top of the leading smart contract platform.

With this steady rise in crypto projects, there is one key drawback of digital currencies and DeFi: the lack of legal certainty and adequate measures to ensure consumer protection. Crypto-asset ownership offers financial independence and wellbeing, however, it also comes with serious (potential) risks.

Crypto Regulations, Sanctions, and Other Compliance Measures

Legacy systems have maintained a firm grip on how individual consumers and businesses perform monetary transactions. Different legal systems and regulatory frameworks are currently overseeing global currency exchange, loans for businesses, insurance services, and other business activities. These laws have been supported by jurisdictional requirements, which makes them confined and limited to a single physical territory.

However, cryptocurrencies are borderless and permissionless, which means consumers can seamlessly engage in cross-border transactions, without relying on intermediaries to finalize transactions. Virtual currencies provide an ecosystem where users don’t have to adhere to strict regulations, sanctions, and other measures that could result in losing access to funds.

With DeFi’s rising popularity and adoption comes a corresponding increase in malicious hackers, damaging exploits, and various other types of illicit activities. This is partly why regulatory authorities are so keen to regulate this nascent sector. Regulatory organizations and law enforcement agencies have been working to take disciplinary action against projects that are engaging in financial crimes.

Providing a Robust “Peace of Mind” Assurance Layer

DeFi is considered a very high-risk industry for large companies because there are inadequate measures in place to ensure that consumers are protected from abusive activities. What’s required is a high level of trust as well as a robust “peace-of-mind assurance layer” that can bridge the gap between the crypto and broader financial industry.

Here’s where Astra Protocol can help, because the team behind the project plans to add an on-chain layer of assurance and safety. As explained by the Astra team, smart contracts, which automate business logic in a decentralized manner, are becoming a key aspect of nearly all decentralized blockchain-powered platforms.

Smart contracts are a key component of any truly decentralized system, including DeFi, because they help with establishing trust in the initiative as a safe investment. But there has to be a regulator or oversight function for monitoring decentralized protocols that effectively eliminates doubt, potential fraud, as well as a proper dispute resolution system. With all these features, we would have a way to make public (permissionless) blockchains safe for everyone. This is precisely what the Astra Protocol aims to deliver.

The Astra Protocol team explains that they provide a reliable mechanism for decentralized businesses to follow appropriate regulations while allowing platforms to remain sufficiently decentralized.

Astra also noted that they aim to provide certainty in the crypto and blockchain sector at a critical time, when the market is maturing and also when there’s been an increase in distrust.

Funds are said to always arrive safely at their promised destination, because of ASTRA. The protocol is able to quickly address problems and return money with minimal friction, if there happens to be a mishap.

By integrating a dispute resolution clause on their platform and smart contracts, also referred to as Proof of Trust, projects will be in a better position to take care of disagreements amicably.

Astra Protocol offers an innovative, on-chain dispute resolution system by adding a legal assurance layer to blockchain-based smart contracts. Before a transfer is finalized, the parties have to agree to work with the Astra protocol, thus making it the default mechanism for handling any conflicts. The protocol leverages human expertise and the latest tech to secure all transfers.

New forms of money are expected to create challenges, which is a natural part of the adoption and transition phase. The Astra protocol helps decentralized companies with adhering to regulations outlined by the US SEC and other regulatory agencies globally.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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• Astra Protocol says it will help in adding on-chain layer of assurance and safety to blockchain, crypto, and DeFi.
• It explained that it will provide a reliable mechanism for decentralized businesses to follow regulations while remaining decentralized.

The world has seen the rise of blockchain-based platforms and virtual currencies. Astra Protocol says this teaches one valuable lesson — that humans love to maintain control over their assets and everything else; that it is engraved in human nature. The COVID-19 outbreak also caused a shift to consumer behavior, which brought forth setbacks in global capital markets. If one can recall, the financial markets crashed drastically since the pandemic started. As a result, investors and average people looked for reliable ways to save their assets from crippling inflation.

This is how other cryptocurrencies aside from Bitcoin (BTC) rose — take Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) for example. The astronomical increase of the prices of digital assets, as well as NFTs (non-fungible tokens), is evident today. However, important regulatory challenges are yet to be addressed.

Furthermore, decentralized projects (DeFi) have also emerged as a high-potential financial services sector. In detail, it aims to fully decentralize how people transact and carry out business activities. DeFi Prime data states that there are around 243 DeFi-related initiatives currently listed. Here, Ethereum takes up most of the market shares with 220 projects developed on top of the Ethereum platform.

The steady rise of crypto projects, moreover, has one key drawback according to Astra Protocol — the lack of legal certainty and adequate measures to ensure consumer protection. Sure, crypto-asset ownership offers financial independence and well-being but it also comes with serious potential risks.

Crypto Regulations, Sanctions, and Other Compliance Measures

Today, legacy systems have maintained a firm grip on how consumers and businesses perform monetary transactions. Along with regulatory frameworks, the two oversee global currency exchange, loans for business, insurance services, and other business activities. These laws are supported by jurisdictional requirements, which makes them confined and limited to a single physical territory.

Because cryptocurrencies are permissionless and borderless, consumers are allowed to engage in cross-border transactions — sometimes without relying on intermediaries to finalize transactions. The entire ecosystem of cryptocurrencies does not have strict regulations, sanctions, and other measures; which could somehow result in losing access to funds.

The rising popularity of DeFi adoption entails an increase in malicious hackers consequently — along with damaging exploits and other types of illicit activities. This is one of the reasons why regulatory authorities are keen on regulating the nascent sector. Regulatory authorities have been working on taking disciplinary measures against projects that engage with financial crimes.

Providing a Robust “Peace of Mind” Assurance Layer

DeFi is considered a very high-risk industry for big companies. There are inadequate measures in place to ensure that consumers are protected from abusive activities. Hence, what the nascent sector needs is a high level of trust and robust peace of mind assurance layer — this can bridge the gap between the crypto industry to the broader financial sector.

This is where Astra Protocol comes in.

According to Astra Protocol, the team aims to add an on-chain layer of assurance and safety. They explained, smart contracts which automate business logic in a decentralized manner, are now the key aspect of almost all decentralized blockchain platforms.

To clarify, smart contracts are key components in any decentralized system like DeFi. It helps in establishing trust in a safe investment. However, it is yet to have a regulator or an oversight function for monitoring decentralized protocols that effectively eliminate doubt, potential fraud, and a proper dispute resolution system. All these features, moreover, would make a way to have public, permissionless, blockchains for everyone — this is exactly what Astra Protocol wants to give.

The Astra Protocol team further stated that they,[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css_animation=”fadeIn” css=”.vc_custom_1634657606343{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-right: 50px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;padding-left: 50px !important;}”]

“Provide a reliable mechanism for decentralized businesses to follow appropriate regulations while allowing platforms to remain sufficiently decentralized. Also, they aim to give certainty in the crypto and blockchain sector at a critical time, when the market is maturing and also when there’s been an increase in distrust.”

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Here, the team also noted that the funds will arrive safely at their promised destination because of ASTRA. To add on, the protocol can also quickly address problems and return the money with minimal friction — if and only if there is a mishap.

Astra Protocol offers an innovative, on-chain dispute resolution system by adding a legal assurance layer to blockchain-based smart contracts. The explained that before a transfer is finalized, the parties have to agree to work with Astra protocol — hence, making it a default mechanism in handling any conflict. This protocol indeed leverages human expertise and the latest tech to secure all transfers.

Moreover, by integrating a dispute resolution clause on a platform, along with smart contracts, often dubbed as Proof of Trust, projects will be able to manage disagreements amicably.

The emergence of new forms of money is expected to create challenges. In fact, this is a natural part of the adoption and transition phase. With Astra Protocol, decentralized companies will be able to adhere to regulations that are outlined by the U.S. SEC and other regulatory authorities worldwide.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]