Cloud infrastructure brings blockchain technology to legacy banking space

Many of the blockchains in use today are public, offering complete transparency and requiring smart contracts, each of which operates in a centralized manner. Unfortunately, these same chains are often subject to outages, hard forks and delayed processing, not to mention a lack of security and role definition necessary in conducting business transactions. For this reason, the permissioned blockchain has risen as a solution to control the activities on a given network.

With a permissioned blockchain, not everyone is permitted to join the blockchain. Instead, participants must be granted special permission from the network’s owner. The result is a blockchain network that exists out of the public eye, that operates with the ability to run faster, achieve greater scalability and meet a level of governance standards. The result is now businesses and other organizations who can’t make their processes or data public can still take advantage of the use cases for blockchain technology.

Now, the only thing missing is a solution for implementation. The resulting gap is what Chain aims to address. Chain is a blockchain-based technology company operating to improve the financial landscape starting from the foundation. As a protocol, Chain is powered by Sequence, a ledger-as-a-service that is deployed alongside the Sequence Portal and Chain Core. Originating in 2014, the prominent startup has since received funding and partnerships from institutions including Visa, Citibank and others to help them launch their own custom blockchain projects.

The project has recently undergone new ownership, resulting in the Chain team overhauling the code base of their two award-winning products, Sequence and Chain. With the intention to one day become a global brand, Chain is now targeted to deliver blockchain solutions to major financial players in the legacy banking space.

Taking the lead from an NFT enthusiast

Leading the project’s new vision is Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of Chain. Thapliyal is, perhaps, best known as an NFT enthusiast who made headlines after purchasing CryptoPunk #5822 for 8,000 ETH, one of the largest transactions in history. With a strong understanding of the blockchain market, Deepak has effectively taken on a role as the mastermind behind the new vision.

“The original Chain team built novel software that was piloted by many until they ultimately merged with Stellar to create Interstellar, running on a public blockchain. However, legacy clients want close-ended systems, ones they can control. If we bring the efficiency of a blockchain and give them the close-ended tools they require, the space can be widely disrupted by Chain’s products. We are keen to bring this to fruition.”

As part of Chain’s efforts to promote this initiative, the team has partnered with Twitter to launch a custom branded Chain Emoji alongside five hashtags: #ChainProtocol, #SequenceLedger, #XCN, #ChainCore and #ChainTxVM. Using the popular social media platform, Chain will join the ranks of well-known blockchain names, including Crypto.com, Solana and Binance, each of whom has its own branded emojis.

To further encourage community growth, Chain has given away $50,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to the members who have participated in the team’s 10-week long giveaway.

Investing in Chain’s Future

The last year brought about several technical developments, including the Chain Token (XCN) launch, a self-described Ethereum (ETH)-based token. By holding Chain, users can access Sequence discounts and additional premium services from the rest of the product line. Additionally, the token is said to one day enable governance and control over its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and public network. The Chain team has also demonstrated efforts to add new strategic partnerships to their roster and grow their own community, which extends to expanding the project team itself.

These initiatives are said to lead to the launch of Sequence v2 and Chain Core v2 in 2022, alongside an additional partnership with Reform, the project’s non-profit arm. In June, the team set the community expectations to see Chain at Consensus 2022 hosted by Coindesk, a prominent news site that has taken on a large sponsorship role.