R3 is working on a DeFi network with its own token

R3, developer of the enterprise blockchain Corda, is exploring the launch of a DeFi network with a corresponding token.

The news, first reported by Ledger Insights, was announced at yesterday’s CordaCon 2021 conference.

A spokesperson for R3 said the company is working on a proof-of-concept project that will pair transparency for external authorities with a decentralized, permissionless network that has privacy features and a corresponding token.

The project is named Obscuro and R3 hopes it will be ready, from a technological standpoint at least, in 2022. But no launch will take place until R3 is given the go-ahead by regulators, and the company has indicated that existing regulations leave “unanswered questions” that would need to be answered before a formal launch.

“Everything we do is in lockstep with the regulators, but we do want to be ahead and in a position to move on this from a technological standpoint when the regulatory side is clear,” said R3’s spokesperson.

The company, which began as a bank consortium and has to date raised around $119 million from a bevy of global banks, believes Obscuro could offer a more secure form of DeFi — reducing malpractice like front-running, for example.

“R3 is looking at the question of how we bring traditional finance and DeFi together, and we believe we are uniquely positioned to deliver this connectivity. Neither one will win out. We believe the future of these two worlds will be hybrid,” said the spokesperson. “We believe that DeFi needs to be made safer from a consumer perspective before it can achieve widespread adoption. It also needs to preserve privacy of individuals.”