Polygon Selected by the Bank of Italy for an Institutional DeFi Ecosystem Project

Key Highlights:

• The Bank of Italy’s innovation hub selects Polygon Labs for its institutional DeFi ecosystem project.
• Led by the Certif Advisory, the hub also revealed extensive collaborations from crypto infrastructure provider Fireblocks, tech developer Reply, legal and tax consultant Linklaters, and web3 studio DVRS.
• The hub initiated the DeFi project to enable traditional financial institutions to explore security tokens and safely conduct transactions using DeFi protocols.

Milano Hub, the innovation center of the Bank of Italy has integrated Ethereum scaling network developer Polygon Labs following the unveiling of its choice of institutional DeFi ecosystem project.

The hub had selected Polygon Labs to provide support for Italian banks, asset managers, and financial institutions, including Intesa Sanpaolo, a major banking group with over $1 trillion in assets under management, to explore the concept of decentralized finance and tokenized assets. This initiative tends to foster more recognition and boost the adoption of Polygon.

The development of the selected project dubbed “Institutional DeFi for Security Token Ecosystem Project,” will be led by the consultancy spinoff of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan’s Cetif Research Centre, Cetif Advisory. 

Speaking on the project, Imanuel Baharier, the General Manager of Cetif Advisory said, “We believe it is vitally important to create the conditions for DeFi to become a safe and open operating environment for supervised entities as well.”

“We are confident that enormous benefits for the entire financial system could result from such accessibility in terms of security for institutional and professional operators, and in terms of opportunities, stability, and resilience for the whole system,” Imanuel added.

According to the announcement, the initiative is basically aimed at enabling traditional financial institutions to adopt the use of security tokens and safely conduct transactions using DeFi protocols.

Milano Hub Seeks to Revolutionize Traditional Finance With DeFi Protocols

The initiative is followed by concerns to revolutionize the financial space for traditional players. Apparently, the Milano Hub understands the need for institutional players to access platforms that allow them to interact within DeFi while complying with stringent regulatory compliance requirements.

Further elaborating on this, the hub made reference to the Lionity platform, the first European institutional-grade automated market maker for the secondary market of security tokens, noting that it is an example of such a system currently in development.

While the developmental support for the project has been scheduled to only last for six months beginning from the current month, the bank has invited extensive efforts from Polygon Labs, Fireblocks, tech developer Reply, legal and tax consultant Linklaters, and web3 studio DVRS. Support from these platforms will be coordinated by Certif Advisory.

Milano Hub has promised to extend its support through diverse infrastructures, focusing on expertise in banking, finance, and insurance matters. This will include comprehensive regulatory studies to ensure a deep understanding of the matters of concern. 

In addition to this, Seminars, events, and conferences will be organized, fostering valuable interactions between the institutions and the academic community. However, it is important to note that while this support encompasses a wide range of aspects, it does not extend to cover marketing activities.