The blockchain sector is currently mostly self-contained, focusing on unique approaches to problem-solving, primarily centered on decentralization and transparency. Despite the fact that these issues are extremely important, and decentralized finance (DeFi) demonstrates that there are new ways to approach them that do not rely on slow and obsolete practices, traditional finance remains the most popular approach to finance, and both TradFi and DeFi can only benefit from mutual understanding.
However, in most circumstances, saying something is far easier than doing it. Decentralized finance is still primarily striving to develop a trustless, yet transparent and safe link to traditional financial institutions and services due to its substantial differences from traditional finance. Solving this challenge would help close the gap that now exists between these two approaches to finance, allowing both to benefit from new ideas. This is where Accumulate enters the picture.
Whitepaper
Accumulate claims in its whitepaper that it wants to be “the bridge to the digital economy.” Its goal is to enable individuals and financial institutions to perform everything DeFi now does without relying on external validators by focusing on an identity-centric framework rather than an address-centric one. As they point out, addresses are known for their complexity; few users examine the string for irregularities before transmitting payments, instead of depending on merely validating the first and final few characters, leaving them open to man in the middle attacks.
Accumulate substitutes them with Accumulate Digital Identifiers (ADIs), which are assigned by an individual or an organization and work similarly to URLs in terms of readability. ADI ownership provides a person with complete authority over tokens, keys, data, and identities without jeopardizing the inherent security and flexibility of decentralized technology. Furthermore, by connecting, or “anchoring,” a transaction to any two Layer 1 blockchains, the project solves the risk of a 51 percent assault by exponentially increasing the difficulty of such an attack. With a variety of other features, the project addresses a number of issues that affect both TradFi and DeFi, allowing both to benefit from the advantages of the other.
The Accumulate Protocol Testnet 3.0 Helix was launched on February 1, 2022, and was named after Singapore’s iconic pedestrian Helix Bridge, which connects Marina Centre and Marina South. The testnet included anchoring, as well as a fee schedule, token burning, multi-sig, a custom token issuer, a web app, and a slew of other useful features. There will be another testnet before the mainnet opens in the second quarter of this year.
