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Scott Shuey · · 6 min readCutting out crypto: Web3 firm looks to bring blockchain back to its roots
There was a time when the tech industry saw blockchain technology – not cryptocurrencies – as the foundation of a new multibillion-dollar industry.
Stability Protocol, a Los Angeles-based firm founded in 2022, thinks that time has arrived again. Last month, the company – formed by CEO Juliun Brabon, COO Klay Nichol, and CPO Mike Mathis – launched Stability’s mainnet: a cryptoless, feeless blockchain called the Global Trust Network.
(From left) IMDA TradeTrust director Loh Sin Yong, Stability Protocol COO Klay Nichol, and Stability Protocol CEO Juliun Brabon / Photo credit: Stability Protocol
A blockchain that eschews crypto might seem unusual, especially after bitcoin’s 60% jump since December 2023. But it should seem like “old times” to those who remember what the blockchain space was like prior to the crypto boom of 2017.
It’s a return to what many saw as the enterprise goals of the technology: provide an immutable record for assets, transactions, and any other important documents.
Record keeping may seem like a boring endeavor, but back in 2016, that is how software giants like Microsoft and SAP first started to pitch the solution using blockchain.
At the time, cryptocurrencies were just viewed as the funds needed to power blockchains. They were not the main attraction.
The return of a public, cryptoless blockchain has been well-received, Brabon and Nichol tell Tech in Asia. Even though Stability launched its testnet in November 2023 and rolled out its mainnet just last month, it already has clients.
Stability has worked with a number of firms in industries such as gaming, fintech, and data authentication. But according to Nichol, the company’s breakthrough moment came when it was approved by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) as a partner.
“We came to Singapore in January to show IMDA what we have built with our Global Trust Network,” he says. “And they asked us to build a reference implementation using their TradeTrust framework, which we did, and they approved us.”
Photo credit: Stability Protocol
IMDA’s approval came in only six weeks, which Brabon attributes to Stability’s tokenless system. Of the four public blockchain networks approved by IMDA to support the TradeTrust initiative, which includes Ethereum, Polygon, and XDC, Stability is the only one that is cryptoless.
“Stability’s expertise will enhance and improve international trade processes through the blockchain technology, without involving the use of cryptocurrency,” Loh Sin Yong, director of TradeTrust, tells Tech in Asia via email. “This will help to continue cultivating trust and efficiency in the global trade ecosystem.”
The return of an old idea: digitalizing trade
Bringing trust back to blockchain
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Stability Protocol recently partnered with Singapore’s IMDA to help the agency digitize trade documents on the Global Trust Network blockchain.
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