Bitcoin and blockchain technology changed everything, from the way we perceive money to the way we analyze and understand finances and the global economy.
Projects that were driven to respect and deliver on Bitcoin's promise of financial freedom came along with faster, cheaper and more eco-friendly platforms powered by superior technologies and enhanced consensus mechanisms to improve the way we relate to money.
One of the modern platforms that works to bring the traditional financial landscape in line with the decentralization ethos of blockchain technology is Persistence, a project powered by the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism in the Cosmos ecosystem.
We’ll approach the Persistence network to understand its range of products and services so that regular and institutional investors may be fully aware if this project is able to deliver results and preserve capital in the long term.
Persistence and the importance of DeFi
We cannot understate the importance of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) for the blockchain space as this new industry strives to connect the innovation of Bitcoin with the perceived safety of traditional finance in order to appeal to the general public, this time without an intermediary to facilitate the communication.
Persistence arrived in this context to provide a reliable bridge between traditional finance and DeFi while offering reduced cost of transactions, great speeds, and a high level of privacy and security.
As for the emergence of DeFi, we can clearly see that 2020 represents the turning point for cryptocurrency projects as they reached a level of maturity that would allow investors to place financial resources into decentralized platforms, staking cryptocurrencies and even engaging in liquidity farming strategies over different blockchain ecosystems.
Though traditional finance is here to stay, we have to underline that the appeal of DeFi is undeniable as we have an easy access gateway for regular users who need to benefit from the blockchain space.
If 2021 remains the best moment for DeFi as a growing number of ‘Ethereum-Killer’ platforms emerged - such as Avalanche, Solana or Terra - trying to offer better staking rates and liquidity pools, 2022 must be the decisive year for the future of Decentralized Finance. With Ethereum 2.0 around the corner, more regulatory initiatives on the horizon and a growing number of users joining the blockchain wave, the future of decentralized finance is not that far.
In this financial crypto-driven context, Persistence works to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the decentralized nature of blockchain projects to facilitate an easier exchange of digital assets, commodities and services.
What is the Persistence project
Persistence is a Cosmos-based project using the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism which intends to connect the world of traditional finance with the innovative drive of blockchain technology.
To reach its purposes, the Persistence development team focused on delivering a comprehensible set of solutions that would bring together the best of the two (apparently distant) financial worlds.
To obtain this connection between our present economic landscape and the crypto sphere, Persistence worked to bring the blockchain space closer to the general public by tokenizing assets, commodities and services for both retail and institutional users.
Since DeFi is at the heart of Persistence, the platform is mainly working to offer investors the possibility to preserve capital by staking the XPRT token and engaging in yield generation.
Furthermore, the Persistence platform has been designed to lower the access barriers to financial sources for both regular users and major investors. If we are to emphasize several key features that make Persistence stand out, we have to mention:
- Easy access to financial sources offered by the blockchain platform;
- Less bureaucracy involved;
- Traditional assets, commodities, financial papers are tokenized into NFTs for better access and control.
- Decentralized trading options of stablecoins and digital assets;
The option to tokenize assets and commodities comes in response to the market demand for a better means to engage in trading operations that would include international payments, financial investments, safe deposit options and trading facilities at reduced fees. We can put all these options in balance with the traditional financial space where intermediaries take a large chunk of the pie and increase overall costs.
Development teams that are interested to build on top of the network benefit from Persistence SDK which offers the necessary details on how to set up and launch decentralized blockchain applications.
Persistence makes DeFi accessible for traditional investors
The last two years have seen an impressive growth of the DeFi space with more and more companies launching modern blockchain-based platforms specially designed to enhance the financial landscape and make it more accessible.
At the moment, a company looking to secure a loan still needs to face a number of unnecessary barriers and bureaucratic challenges. In this context, the idea of offering a decentralized solution remains the cornerstone of DeFi as the need for easy access to financial services continues to be a major issue for many investors.
In an attempt to respond to these challenges, Persistence focused on delivering a platform that can assist regular users, investors and companies to find multiple sources of financial resources via tokenized assets, commodities and services.
At the same time, an easier access to financing sources can bring into the crypto space an impressive number of investors who were somehow circumspect about entering the blockchain industry.
Persistence products and solutions make it easy for the institutional and retail sectors to understand how tokenized assets, commodities and services can produce new sources of income.
Persistence network token economics
XPRT is the native governance token of the Persistence ecosystem which can be used for a multitude of purposes on the platform, from voting in protocol improvement proposals to staking and providing liquidity in the Ethereum ecosystem.
The Persistence mainnet was launched on March 30, 2021 with a 100 million XPRT genesis supply. From the genesis supply, 9.1% has been in circulation. The total XPRT supply is limited to a maximum of 403,308, 352 XPRT tokens which will be released gradually over the following 15 years. XPRT investors benefit in the first two years of a 35% staking yield for their support, as the inflation period halves every two years.
XPRT is of major importance as its holders can participate in the protocol governance to increase overall security and long-term success.
Persistence staking
Persistence is powered by the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism which allows token holders to earn additional coins from holding XPRT. They have the possibility to launch their own validator nodes or they can delegate the tokens to validators who can do just that for them.
Validators are most of the time third parties that deploy their own infrastructure in order to support multiple PoS networks. Since they do that as a business they already have everything set up and ready to go.
In the case of Persistence, the staking yield for XPRT stands for the moment around 35% per year, though the numbers may change in the future.
Validators keep a fee for their staking efforts, and you can usually encounter anything between 5% and 15%. Though a regular user may be tempted to select a validator according to the fees they charge from the staking rewards, we have to emphasize that it’s important to choose a name that comes with some experience in the industry.
Persistence network governance
Persistence blockchain has been imagined to operate as a DAO - Decentralized Autonomous Organization - permitting its supporters, no matter we talk about regular holders or major investors, to cast a vote on any proposals that surround the development of Persistence.
In this respect, the value of XPRT comes from acting as a work token where every network holder can employ it for a great number of purposes. XPRT can be used to receive rewards by those involved in staking, from delegators and validators to the software developers that build decentralized apps on top of it.
Furthermore, XPRT holders have the possibility to use the token to pay for the transaction fees whenever they use the network. In addition to paying for the network transactions, users can take advantage of XPRT when placing real assets on the blockchain in a tokenized form.
We can definitely say that XPRT is at the heart of the Persistence blockchain powering and sustaining its entire development.
Persistence solutions
Persistence has been imagined from the start to behave as a true ecosystem for Web3 products that can be used by both retail and institutional users. In this context, Persistence is driven by four solutions that act as the main pillars in the ecosystem:
- Comdex, a commodities trading product that facilitates the end-to-end trade cycle;
- Audit.one, a Staking-as-a-Service solution for networks using the Proof of Stake protocol;
- pStake, a liquid staking platform that allows stakers to generate higher returns on their staked assets;
- Asset Mantle, a dedicated platform where content creators and interested parties can engage in the creation and exchange of Non Fungible Tokens.
Comdex
The platform has been designed as a decentralized trading solution that can offer easy access options to a vast array of global assets covering the end-to-end trade cycle including price discovery, settlement and financial sources.
The novelty of Comdex stands in its ability to advance the commodity trading industry by connecting the traditional financial structures with the benefits provided by blockchain.
For this reason, the Comdex platform has been imagined to deliver intuitive access to trade financing, settlement and workflow management from a single location covering several key elements: high efficiency, effective communication, and improved transparency.
In just a few steps, companies engaged in supplying or purchasing can access the platform for easy trading management and transparent communication.
Comdex has been launched in the pilot phase on the Persistence blockchain technology as the network can preserve the promise of security, decentralization and cross-chain communication.
Audit.one
Audit.one is a Staking-as-a-Service solution for projects powered by the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.
To offer the highest level of decentralization, the hardware infrastructure has been built upon a series of highly redundant data centers that cover multiple locations from all over the world.
In addition to an excellent level of coverage, this staking platform is focused to deliver the best security available right now, setting up multiple cloud provider nodes in order to remain secure from cyber threats and online menaces.
Finally, since we are talking about a staking service that addresses major companies which are interested to invest time and money in their favorite PoS projects, the decentralized infrastructure has been imagined to offer low downtime and top security.
pStake
pStake is a liquid staking service developed by Persistence which can be used by retail and institutional investors to benefit from PoS digital assets allowing them to increase their rewards in yield farming operations.
pStake is an important part of the Persistence project as it has been designed to offer multiple possibilities for XPRT token holders to benefit from staking and generate additional yield rewards in major blockchains like Ethereum.
pStake is intended to unlock the potential of your tokens by permitting holders to mint 1 to 1 pegged Ethereum-based wrapped tokens - such as pStake Staked ATOM or pStake Staked XPRT - that the user can further on employ in the Ethereum ecosystem for yield farming operations.
The Persistence project aims to expose token holders to a diversity of networks permitting users to benefit from liquid staking operations in order to increase overall liquidity and enhance digital assets exchange in the cryptocurrency space.
Asset Mantle
Asset Mantle is a platform that is meant to function as a marketplace for users who want to create or simply engage in exchanging NFTs.
This NFT-focused solution addresses creators and collectors who are interested in finding a cross-chain platform where they can connect with each other in order to trade digital pieces of art in any NFT format, from video and audio files to photos. The NFT platform is still under development and it should be launched in the near future.
Persistence in the blockchain industry
Persistence is based on the Proof of Stake consensus protocol and is part of the Cosmos ecosystem, one of the most representative blockchains today.
At the same time, the Persistence project was imagined to respond to both retail and institutional investors’ demands for higher staking rewards and better yield generating assets.
However, DeFi is still in an emerging phase as crypto developers and VCs struggle to find a reliable bridge between traditional finance and the blockchain-based decentralized applications that aim to offer a better return on investment.
Persistence took several steps to create a complete blockchain-based ecosystem via several products and solutions:
- Comdex - a commodities trading platform;
- Audit.one - a Staking as a Service service for PoS networks;
- pStake - a liquidity staking platform for users who want to generate additional yield on Ethereum;
- Asset Mantle - a cross-chain marketplace for NFTs.
Some of the most prominent Persistence supporters are VCs like Woodstock Capital, LuneX Ventures, Interchain, Terra, Incrypt, AU21 Capital and others. The advisor names include Sandeep Neilvall from Polygon, Ajit Tripathi from Aave and Sam Sutcliffe from Tendermint. Finally, we cannot emphasize enough the Cosmos network support for Persistence and its solutions.
Why did JECO choose to support Persistence?
JECO aims to become a reliable validator in the Persistence network preserving high availability and providing security via the XPRT staking process.
We chose Persistence after analyzing its core features and principles, and understanding how exactly this project delivers real value to its community and supporters.
Even though we are strong believers in the Proof of Stake-based protocols, we want more as we look for the true potential of a project over a long period of time.
Persistence convinced us to support its development as we checked its premises and we actually perceived that this project can bridge traditional finance and DeFi space acting as a magnet for retail and institutional players that are looking to secure their investments.
Persistence has deployed several solutions that are meant to increase access to traditional assets, staking facilities, NFTs and even to attract liquidity from the Ethereum ecosystem via yield generation.
We, at JECO, look forward to supporting blockchain networks that enhance the present financial system while acting as real bridges between CeFi and DeFi to facilitate seamless exchange of digital assets.
