Bittrex International has joined the Universal Protocol Alliance which announced the creation of the “Universal Dollar” or UPUSD stablecoin last fall.
The founding members of the Alliance include; Uphold, Cred, Blockchain at Berkeley, and Brave. Each entity supports a “universal transparent reserve and custody standard that mints and burns Proxy tokens via the Universal Protocol Platform (UP Platform).”
The platform plans to introduce the UPUSD and Universal Euro soon. This will serve as the hub for the creation and management of ‘proxy’ tokens and user features that will drive mass user adoption of cryptocurrencies.
Bill Shihara, of Bittrex International, said they were thrilled to join the Alliance of like-minded blockchain companies dedicated to incubating blockchain-based technologies and helping projects go mainstream.
“The blockchain industry needs technology that can build trust and transparency, and the platform the Alliance has built should help drive mass utility and adoption.”
The goal is to foster an ecosystem that renders cryptocurrencies more practical and easier to use.
“The UP Platform solves real usability and familiarity problems faced by the next hundred million users of digital assets,” said Brendan Eich, co-founder of Brave and creator of JavaScript.
Currently, digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum exist on separate blockchain platforms and do not interact with one another. This creates inefficiencies as separate blockchain projects are unable to collaborate in any meaningful way. The Alliance believes this has greatly hindered innovation in blockchain and the realization of its vast potential. The UP Platform looks to solve this issue and allow all cryptocurrencies to become accessible on a single network through the introduction of Proxy Tokens.
Proxy Tokens are described as digital representations of their underlying assets and can exist on other blockchains. For example, this approach enables Proxy Bitcoin to exist on Ethereum and be reasoned with directly by Ethereum’s preponderance of decentralized applications, decentralized exchanges, and smart contracts.
JP Thieriot, President of the UP Alliance and Co-founder of Uphold, described blockchain as being in the early days of the internet:
“We believe that the Universal Protocol Platform is a technology that has the potential to connect blockchain technologies, much like the breakthrough of the TCP and IP protocols that drove the internet towards mass adoption. “
Dan Schatt, Chairman of the UP Alliance and Cofounder of Cred, said as they add members the coalition will get stronger:
“We are actively seeking partners that would like to benefit from this new technology that we believe will set the standard for transparency, convenience, and make an unprecedented amount of liquidity available for the ecosystem.”