SCB 10X, the holding company of Siam Commercial Bank, Thailands first commercial bank, said today it was joining decentralized finance (DeFi) project Band Protocol as a node validator, as per a tweet this morning.
The Bangkok-based Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that aggregates and connects real-world data and APIs to smart contracts. ‘Oracles’ are third-party services, like Band Protocol or Chainlink, that fetch data from outside a blockchain to within.
Oracles are required because blockchains, by design, are immutable and secure stores of data, but cannot individually verify the authenticity of data being stored on them.
Bank protocol
As per the release, SCB 10X will validate and confirm blockchain-based financial transactions with other network nodes to increase security and transparency. This would help ensure the integrity of every financial transaction entered into the blockchain while preventing the chances of a financially engineered attack.
“SCB 10X transitions to finance of the future by joining global DeFi developer Band Protocol as node validator. This is the first time in Asia that a financial services company is materially involved in DeFi,” the holding company tweeted.
SCB 10X head of venture Kaweewut Temphuwapat said the firm had established a blockchain lab to bring together a team of blockchain developers within the organization to develop blockchain innovations.
“As seen in this collaboration, we are participating as one of Band Protocols node validators, allowing us to better understand and bring the potential of a decentralized financial system (DeFi) into reality, paving the way for other financial services in the future,” Temphuwapat said in a statement.
BAND shows muted reaction
The move marked the first-ever instance of a legacy institution getting involved in the burgeoning crypto space in the Asia Pacific region, and one of the first global instances of a financial giant taking part in a public DeFi network.
Meanwhile, Band Protocol‘s native token, BAND, did not move much on the news. Data from markets tool CoinGecko shows the token rose a paltry 0.5% on the day. It’s returned over 8.6% to investors over the past week, however, and a staggering 5,288% over the past year.
BAND trades at $14.35 at press time and has a market cap of $329 million. It is used as a medium of exchange for transfer/data request fees as well as in staking to ensure accountability from a global pool of validators.