Hassan Maishera
Tim Paymans, VP of Product at IOV Labs, announced a series of major developments focused on supporting the growth of the Rootstock ecosystem alongside a refined focus and new look for the open-source Rootstock Infrastructure Framework (RIF).
He made this announcement at this year’s Consensus event. During the event, Paymans revealed two major developments for RIF were revealed;
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The first major development is Five complimentary Product Development Workshops for businesses looking to use blockchain technology and the RIF protocols to develop and launch innovative fintech products. Rootstock added that partners selected for the program would be granted access to product experts, Rootstock developers, funding and marketing support.
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The second major development is a new visual identity for RIF to better reflect its purpose; to accelerate the development of useful, affordable, and scalable fintech products and services on the blockchain.
RIF is an open-source set of tools, technologies and protocols that make it easy to develop accessible and user-friendly finance services on top of the Rootstock sidechain.
According to Rootstock, RIF was launched to help developers and financial pioneers solve real, everyday challenges for users. The suite of open-source technologies serves as the building blocks for developing apps that make it possible for users to pay, send, save, and borrow money in a secure, simple and affordable way.
While speaking at Consensus 2023, Paymans discussed why IOV Labs launched RIF and how the company intends to continue supporting the development of decentralized protocols. He stated that;
"Our vision at IOVLabs is a safe and equitable global financial system that enables everyone to participate and prosper. We believe the best way to make this vision a reality is by putting the tools, technology, and resources directly in the hands of the builders, founders, and financial organizations on the front line of the future of finance.”
The IOVLabs VP also announced that the organization would launch a $2.5 million grant program for startups and developers. The grant would allow developers to build DeFi apps on top of Rootstock, the world’s most secure, permissionless and censorship-resistant Bitcoin sidechain.
IOVLabs aims to distribute 100 grants this year with the goal of supporting founders and entrepreneurs building the future of finance. T
While commenting on this latest development, Pei Chen, IOVLabs VP of Growth, stated that;
“IOVLabs’ investment in the Rootstock strategic grants program reflects our commitment to supporting the development of a decentralized financial ecosystem through community effort. Over 1 billion people lack access to financial services worldwide. RIF aims to change this by reducing the complexity of decentralized finance and making it accessible to all.”
Enterprises, entrepreneurs, and developers can take advantage of the open-source RIF suite to build new services or integrate crypto into existing products and can submit their interest to co-create a product with RIF.
Rootstock is the world’s most secure, permissionless and censorship-resistant Bitcoin sidechain. It provides EVM-compatible smart contract functionality using bitcoin as the native asset. Rootstock takes Bitcoin from a simple store of value and turns it into the foundations of a fully-fledged decentralized financial system.
