Tgrade

Tgrade is the developer of a public, permissionless blockchain, secured by proof of engagementand focused on regulated decentralized finance (DeFi). Tgrade builds a self-sovereign framework that ensures the principle of decentralization and uses a feature called Trusted Circles. The company develops new financial instruments with smart contracts and brings liquidity from traditional finance and regulated markets through governance and regulatory frameworks. Tgrade offers a desktop application, the Tgrade App, for companies that want to use their system.

Tgrade was developed by Confio, which remains a key contributor. Confio is a Berlin-based company that is also the team behind CosmWasm, a secure interoperable smart contract engine for the Cosmos network. Martin Worner of Confio is the main force behind Tgrade. Tgrade is a foundation for developers to deploy DeFi products, such as pegs and automated market makers, using the CosmWasm engine. Tgrade is backed by the Ocean Blue Foundation.

Tgrade explains Regulated DeFi

Trusted Circles are a self-sovereign governance framework that can create the rules and off-chain processes around the legislation they are governed by. Anyone can create a Trusted Circle, which provides governance around maintaining a whitelist. This whitelist can then be used by other DeFi projects to limit usage to a series of approved investors.

How do Trusted Circles tame DeFi?

In February 2021, Ignite, formally known as Tendermint, announced an investment in Tgrade to support the Cosmos DeFi ecosystem. Tendermint’s mission is to build the foundation for a new token economy that serves as the backbone to high-value public blockchains, which requires a robust smart contracting platform. Their Tgrade investment symbolizes a growing partnership between Tendermint and Confio, applying the power of CosmWasm to bring about powerful DeFi use cases and showcasing what is possible to Cosmos and the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Tgrade plans to hold a "Game of Engagement," which will be run over four weeks. There will be double engagement points on offer and a series of challenges. Some challenges will be scheduled, and some will be flash challenges each Monday morning. Dates and challenges are expected to be announced in Q2 2022.