Portal Announces New Partnership with Babylon for Enhanced Bitcoin Security

Portal's new partnership with Babylon significantly enhances security in cross-chain swaps and creates more utility and accessibility to Bitcoin.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Portal, a fintech provider advancing financial self-sovereignty with robust technology for secure and trust-minimized access to Bitcoin and diverse cryptocurrency markets, today announced a new strategic partnership with Babylon, a major blockchain project that designs security-sharing protocols for the decentralized economy. The new partnership leverages Bitcoin's formidable security to fortify the Portal Notary Chain, further cementing Portal's position at the forefront of the world's most secure decentralized exchange protocols.

"In the evolving landscape of cross-chain decentralized finance, the importance of trust and security cannot be overstated, especially in the realm of cross-chain decentralized exchanges where native Bitcoin support is absent from almost every DeFi application today," said Chandra Duggirala, co-founder and CEO of Portal. "Through our collaboration with Babylon, the backbone of our bridgeless, cross-chain, decentralized exchange will integrate the robust protection layers inherent in Bitcoin's architecture. Babylon's work in the timestamping and staking space, in particular, will bring more utility, accessibility and community to Bitcoin. This integration is not just an enhancement but a transformative step in redefining exchange protocol security."

Portal is a builder of the foundational pieces of technology required for a trustless and inclusive economy. It offers an advanced technological infrastructure, improved systems for coordination and easy-to-use tools previously only available to large institutions and hedge funds. Its Portal DEX is the first Bitcoin-based exchange that enables Layer 2 atomic swaps of cryptocurrencies across blockchains without custodians, bridges, wrapped assets or other well-known sources of risk. It does this while providing greater speed, lower cost and a number of features that are as comprehensive as centralized exchanges.

"We're excited to integrate our Bitcoin security sharing protocol with Portal, enabling a more robust and trustworthy DeFi environment," said Fisher Yu, co-founder of Babylon. "In response to the rising demand for better security and reliability, especially following recent bridge hacks, we're addressing major concerns directly, from custodial risks to enhancing native BTC support in DeFi. We're setting new standards in DeFi security and reliability, backed by the robust and decentralized security of Bitcoin."

Central to Portal's Babylon integration is Babylon's innovative use of the Bitcoin Timestamping Protocol, which enables the synchronization of timestamp events from various blockchains onto Bitcoin. Portal's Validator Network acts as a decentralized exchange notary, where a dynamic array of validators oversees and authenticates all swaps, but without having custody of funds, within the Portal DEX Network. This process, coupled with the distribution of rewards to liquidity providers and stakers, exemplifies a novel use of Bitcoin's security in a Proof of Stake (PoS) network.

The Babylon integration also represents a significant advancement in stake unbonding times for Portal validators. Traditional PoS chains necessitate an extended "trust period" for staking, typically taking two to three weeks. With Babylon's timestamping, the unbonding request confirmation can be accelerated, reducing the waiting period to approximately one day. This enhancement is vital for users to quickly identify and respond to potential attacks on chains.

About Babylon
Babylon is a blockchain project that designs security-sharing protocols for the decentralized economy. Founded in 2022 by Stanford Professor David Tse and Dr. Fisher Yu, the project is led by a team of consensus protocol researchers and experienced Layer 1 engineers from around the world. Babylon's mission is to scale Bitcoin to secure the decentralized economy. To achieve this, Babylon utilizes the three primary facets of Bitcoin: its asset, its reliable timestamping service, and its most censorship-resistant blockspace in the world. To leverage these facets, Babylon is developing three innovative security-sharing protocols: Bitcoin Staking Protocol, Bitcoin Timestamping Protocol, and Bitcoin Data Availability Protocol. Through these pioneering protocols, Babylon envisions a more secure and decentralized future.

About Portal
Portal is a fintech provider advancing financial self-sovereignty with robust technology for secure and trust-minimized access to Bitcoin and diverse cryptocurrency markets. A builder of the foundational pieces of technology required for a trustless and inclusive economy, Portal offers an advanced technological infrastructure, improved systems for coordination and easy-to-use tools previously only available to large institutions and hedge funds. Portal enables individual investors to exchange digital assets across blockchain networks with greater efficiency and speed, lower costs, increased transparency and enhanced security and privacy. A pioneer and an advocate for free and unfettered markets, Portal was founded in 2019 and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Portal is backed by Coinbase Ventures, Arrington Capital, OKX Ventures, Gate.io and many other prominent fintech/crypto investors. For more information, visit https://portaldefi.com.

Media Contact

Michael Tebo, Gabriel Marketing Group, 571-835-8775, [email protected] 

SOURCE Portal